User:Fitzinator2/sandbox

Hong Kong
In 1997 Great Britain handed over the control of Hong Kong to mainland China. A special agreement was created as a means of protection for the territory called "one country, two systems" to ensure Hong Kong remained independent from the mainland. In 2017 mainland china agreed to allow elections in Hong Kong to proceed, but only from a list of candidates pre-approved by mainland China. In defiance towards China's decision tens of thousands, many of whom where students, took to the streets to protest. The protest was labeled the umbrella movement due to the use of umbrellas by protesters to protect themselves from the tear gas the police used as a form of suppression.

While social media played a role in the protests in Hong Kong it did not serve as the main catalyst for the protests like some other movements. Social media was critical in the initial mobilization of a large scale protest, it consisted of mostly students early on. The tipping point for the movement came when images where broadcast out on local media of protestors being teargassed impacting individuals not on social media platforms. While social media played a role in the initiation of the movement the broadcast of the teargassing moved it from the fringes into a mass movement.