Occupy Central thumbs nose at state media's use of 1.3b population to criticise unofficial vote
No basis for comparison between 720,000-strong turnout at reform 'referendum' and 1.3 billion national population, poll organisers say
The Occupy Central movement for democracy yesterday gave as good as it got from state media, describing as laughable an editorial that called its unofficial referendum on Hong Kong's electoral reform ludicrous.
Organisers of the ongoing citywide poll dismissed criticism from state-run tabloid that the voter turnout - 728,601 by midnight last night - was "no match" for the 1.3 billion population in the whole of China.
"If the 1.3 billion people really have a vote, I believe they will support democratic development in Hong Kong to serve as a model of demonstration for the rest of the country," Chan said.
The newspaper advises Hong Kong's opposition to "remember how the state defeated the Iron Lady's administration and took back Hong Kong", in a reference to former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher that appeared in the Chinese version of the editorial but not the English one.