The title says that the protests failed to materialize but the article did not talk about the protests. So here it’s more data (from France info):

• There were 7000 people according to the police, 10 000 according to Bardella, the president off the far right party
• Another protest was organized in a different place in Paris by the left, with 5000 people according to the police
• For comparison, the night of the parliament elections last year, there was a self organized manifestation (from the left) at the same place of 8000 people

You make me want to watch Fraggle Rock again. Apparently it’s on Apple TV+ and they made new seasons. Or, you can find it the other way…

TL;DR The estimate of 8 billions humans on Earth might be underestimated. Because in specific areas where a dam is built and relocated population is precisely counted, they realized that they were underestimated.

But this is just one publication that does not convince other scientists that the estimation would be too way off. So until further notice were still 8 billions.