A restaurant in Taipei that backed the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong and provided refuge for protesters from the territory announced its closure on Monday, citing financial difficulties.
The restaurant posted photographs on Facebook with a message describing the situation, less than two years after the eatery was opened by Daniel Wong (黃國桐), a Hong Kong lawyer and politician who provided free legal services for demonstrators arrested during 2019 democracy protests there.
A message with the photos said that Aegis was shutting down its physical site because it did not have enough funds, but would continue its online business.
“Painfully, we have removed the sign and our work has disappeared,” the message said. “Everything is over, but this is a test from fate. Although we have ended the brick-and-mortar business, we will continue to manage our online shop.”
The restaurant opened in April last year, but faced a setback in August, when a fire destroyed equipment, costing the business a lot to compensate the owner of the building.
Over the past four months, it has been trying to deal with the aftermath of the fire, including the compensation issue and restoring the building, Aegis said.
In October last year, the restaurant was forced to close for three weeks because of vandalism, when it was spattered with feces.
Located near National Taiwan University, the restaurant had been offering work opportunities to young Hong Kongers who had fled to Taiwan to avoid a crackdown on participants in the 2019 protests.
It had become a popular hangout for many Taiwanese supporters of the Hong Kong democracy movement.
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