Recently? Maybe i'm wrong, but i remember a 2 years old news telling that france was pursuing allowing the police to spy on rioter's phones.... I remember it was not long after the "end" of the yellow jacket's riots, so maybe it's even older.

Dysthopic vibes.

Telegram is not safe from governments. Maybe safe from Western ones.

It does not have E2EE for most things. Which means TG users are not safe from TG owners, and TG owners are not safe from those who are the force behind them.

Maybe it's Israel, maybe it's Russia, Durov's female friend was spotted in Baku in a "cyber-security" center operated by Israelis, so maybe Azerbaijan. Maybe I don't know.

You don't have to know which exactly force that is. All you have to know is how TG works.

people who organize demonstrations

... can use Signal. Its usability has improved a lot since I last tried using it. I've just moved half of our family chats there, another half is waiting till a bit later, because they are on another continent. It's as convenient as WhatsApp.