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.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by