Online media campaign "The Five-Starred Red Flag Has 1.4 Billion Flag Guards" organized by China Central Television has become one of the most popular in the country's history. 

It has received five billion hits since being posted less than two weeks ago. The campaign aims to "guard the national flag." 

In recent violence in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), radical protesters have repeatedly climbed the flagpole, removed the Chinese national flag and threw it into the sea, which angers many.

"1.4 Billion Flag Guards" campaign got popular in China as people are eager to display their strong support for national unity.

"We won't allow anyone to tarnish our national image", "Hong Kong is an inalienable part of China," netizens wrote on China's popular social media platform Weibo.

According to the Hong Kong Police Force, five people had been arrested on suspicion of desecrating the national flag.

On August 3 and August 5, some radical protesters removed the Chinese national flag from a flagpole in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon Peninsula, and threw it into the sea. 

The police also seized some computers, phones, and clothes from their residence for further investigation.

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According to the National Flag and National Emblem Ordinance of the HKSAR, a person who desecrates the national flag or national emblem by publicly and willfully burning, mutilating, scrawling, defiling or trampling commits an offense. If convicted, he or she is fined at level 5 and jailed for three years. 

(With input from Xinhua)