Hong Kong has slowly boiled down. After weeks of protests and mobs, the city has finally settled down to its previously peaceful state. However, on the internet, the protests continue.

These protests are unique because they are conducted entirely on the internet. Since the invention of protests (which probably took place directly after the invention of groundings), people have, for the most part, conducted their protests in a violent manner. The Boston Tea Party. Gandhi’s Salt March. The Boston Massacre. The Storming of the Bastille. And finally, Tiananmen Square.

In China, the Tiananmen square incident never happened. The Wikipedia sites have been blocked, as have many other websites that talk about it (this probably will be, too). To date, there currently exists exactly one memorial to that terrible day, and it’s located in Hong Kong. Needless to say, the story has all but been erased from China.

Regardless, we know the truth about Tiananmen Square. Long story short, several thousand students met at the square to protest government policies. The Chinese government, wrongly believing the protests to be harmful, sent over thirty divisions from the country’s army. These divisions, comprised of over 250,000 soldiers and tanks, went to the Square and eventually killed several thousand innocent civilians and protestors.

Thankfully, the responses to the HK Protests have been far less dramatic. There have been few injuries or deaths resulting from the protests, so the loss of life has not been an issue. Instead, the Chinese government has been attacking the protests over the internet.

Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have all removed Chinese government users from their domains, citing fraudulent accounts as the reason for removal. Twitter, the largest platform for the protests, has removed several hundred government users, all actively working at sabotaging the protests. Some go directly against the protesters, while others take a more subtle approach. These are the most deadly, for they pose as protestors, while actually saying violent and harmful things about the Chinese government. These users are the most dangerous to the protest, for to the common citizen, they are impossible to distinguish. Many normal people have seen these fake users and have assumed they are real protestors, saying terrible things about the Chinese government.

This just fuels the flame that will eventually grow into full-on Chinese oppression of Hong Kong. The Chinese government can cite these fake protestors as real and harmful, using them as a reason for the violent removal of real protestors. Americans, this goes against everything we stand for. We must unite and draw awareness to this growing movement, and, as stated before, pray for the HK protestors, that they would have wisdom in their movement. If these protests reach the level that I predict, it may end up as a repeat of the Tiananmen Square incident.

Guys, this is real life. We cannot avoid this. We cannot shun this. But, as Christians, we can pray for the people of Hong Kong. I beseech you, pray and love, no matter the consequence.