Tucked away in an apartment building on a quiet side street of Hong Kong’s busy Causeway Bay district, this small hotel is a shrine to the Umbrella Revolution.
Freelance translator Stephen Thompson rented the apartment in early December, in the same week that police began clearing out the city’s pro-democracy protest sites.
Memorabilia
“I literally got the keys and then the next day I went down to Admiralty (the main protest site) and the police were coming and I just grabbed as much as I could,” says Thompson.
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However, the Hong Kong Home Affairs Department requires anyone running a guesthouse to apply for a special permit from the Office of the Licensing Authority — something Thompson says he doesn’t need to do, because he is selective about who he allows to stay.
Despite questions over the legality of his venture, Thompson says he hopes to eventually open up two more Occupy-themed hotels – one for each of the main protest sites.
Until then, pro-democracy supporters can continue reliving the protests in a tiny Causeway Bay apartment – having their own movement against Hong Kong’s Chief Executive CY Leung, one flush at a time.
