How many were there when it mattered

Size matters, particularly in demonstrations. A demonstration is in support of a movement or a cause. The movement has a number of sympathisers. The perceived number of sympathisers is important. If it is seen to be large, then it becomes easier to recruit others to the cause, and to persuade inactive sympathisers to join the demonstrations. Also, if the movement numbers are large then it is more difficult for authorities to deny their demands. It is as if the merit of the cause is somehow related to the number of its sympathisers. People often judge an event’s success by the size of the crowd. After a large demonstration, the crowd size estimates vary considerably. One side boosts the number to justify the cause, the other diminishes the number to weaken it. Journalists are often left somewhere in the middle, though the proximity of a newspaper’s estimates to either extreme may give a measure of its political leaning. Even in crowd estimation at public events, there may be an exaggeration factor at work in order to How many were there when it mattered? Estimating the sizes of crowds