From what I gathered from a (French) blog posting by a squatting collective, posted elsewhere in this thread, the arrests are in relation to an eviction.

The eviction was legally sanctioned, and violence was used on the officers. Several officers had to stop work for a few days, one officer for two weeks.

I myself am a middle-aged "have" , but I do worry about climate and I do empathize with those that "have not".

However, violence during an eviction is not peaceful. People were hurt, and a legal response was due. Seems to me that arresting someone after the fact, and dealing with the matter in a court of law is the peaceful thing to do?

When I read "extreme crimes", I don't think of a scuffle with the cops over what started as a misdemeanor arrest or non-criminal enforcement action. Protonmail should change their wording to be clear that governments can and do compel them to collect such information for ordinary crimes.

Yup, fully agree: Protonmail should just say "we comply with the law". Though at this point the security reputation of the Swiss should have given anyone pause to think (Crypto AG, Omnisec AG, etc)

My point was just that 1) the arrest was related to squatting, not the climate 2) these people, idealist and well-intentioned as they were, were not "peaceful" (at least, not when faced with a brigade of police officers)

(prepare the downvotes)

> The eviction was legally sanctioned, and violence was used on the officers. Several officers had to stop work for a few days, one officer for two weeks.

Usually they need to stop work for a few days because their hands/wrists are aching due to hitting too hard on protestors. Anti-riot are perfectly equipped and physically trained to be in fights, it's literally their job. And while there are generally at least a few "semi-pro" violent protestors on the other side, they are not so well equipped like the police.

+1

FWIW, what they were accused of was squatting, not protesting climate change. I still think that's a ludicrous abuse of police powers, but it's worth being accurate.

And in the spirit of accuracy : the reason for the arrest was the violence during an eviction (several injured police officers), not the squatting itself.

Ah, thank you. I didn't realise that. Appreciate the correction!