Measuring people power

How do Hong Kong’s protests stack up against other displays of people power? They are brave and important, posing the biggest challenge from the streets to China’s government since Tiananmen Square in 1989. But in absolute numbers they are small: 100,000 is a fraction of the number of Catalans who marched in Barcelona last month seeking a referendum on independence from Spain; of Brazilians who demonstrated against corruption and poor public services in June 2013; or of Egyptians who took to Cairo’s streets a few days later to demand the resignation of the president, Muhammad Morsi.