Taipei, Oct. 16 (CNA) Taipei police said Friday they had identified a suspect who earlier in the day vandalized with a bucket of excrement a local diner that offers work opportunities to young Hong Kongers seeking shelter in Taiwan.

Hsieh Chih-hsin (謝志鑫), chief of the investigation division at Da'an Precinct, said the police are summoning the male suspect for questioning to find out the motive behind his attack against Aegis, which is the name of the restaurant located in an alley on Xinsheng South road.

In the meantime, officers will tighten patrols around the area to prevent any similar reoccurrence, Hsieh said.

According to the Da'an police, the incident took place at around noon, when an individual dressed in all black approached the restaurant and threw what appeared to be chicken feces at the counter.

During the process, the feces also splashed onto a female staff member there, police said.

Based on nearby video surveillance, the suspect was seen fleeing toward Wenzhou Road immediately after the attack, Hsieh said.

Aegis, which opened on April 19, was founded by Daniel Wong Kwok-tung (黃國桐), a Hong Kong lawyer and politician who provided free legal services to demonstrators arrested during the 2019 Hong Kong protests.

The protests, which began in June 2019 over an extradition bill that has since been withdrawn, later morphed into calls for full democracy and closer scrutiny of Hong Kong police.

On Friday, the Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan's Cabinet-level agency in charge of cross-strait relations, condemned the vandalism and said local authorities will get to the bottom of the incident.