Conspiracy theorists torch 5G mast, claiming radiation caused coronavirus outbreak

Conspiracy theorists are reportedly lighting phone masts on fire and even targeting engineers after claims that the coronavirus pandemic was caused by 5G radiation.

A 70ft mast was set on fire last night in Birmingham and was responded to by police and fire crews. The incident is still being investigated though emergency respondents were able to confirm that the mast was deliberately damaged.

The 5G theory began last month when a video taken at a health conference in the United States claimed that Africa did not have cases of the disease because it isn’t a “5G region,” according to The Sun.

The World Health Organization debunked the theory by confirming thousands of cases of coronavirus in Africa. The US government also said there is “no evidence to suggest that 5G has anything to do with COVID-19.”

Celebrities such as Jason Gardiner and Callum Best were criticized after making similar claims about 5G.

Some social media users are now encouraging each other to damage masts in a Facebook group called STOP 5G. There is even a petition of the same name on change.org that has received close to 100,000 signatures.

The Facebook group has many users leaving harsh comments and was even forced to warn its members against attacking engineers.

A post at the top of the page says: “We have been notified by certain members of the public that some individuals in this group have decided to target telecoms workers, as they believe and claim them to be 'criminals and genocidists'.”

“You know who you are. If you continue to conduct yourselves like this you will be banned from this group.”

One telecom engineer who wished to remain anonymous said, “There are Facebook groups posting videos of the masts being set on fire and people encouraging others to do the same.”

“Wuhan was a test bed for the 5G rollout but is a dumbfounded connection.”

Mobile UK released a statement noting that some of their employees have received abuse.

“During this challenging situation, it is concerning that certain groups are using the COVID-19 pandemic to spread false rumours and theories about the safety of 5G technologies,” the company said.

“More worryingly some people are also abusing our key workers and making threats to damage infrastructure under the pretence of claims about 5G.”

“This is not acceptable and only impacts on our ability as an industry to maintain the resilience and operational capacity of the networks to support mass home working and critical connectivity to the emergency services, vulnerable consumers and hospitals.”

“The theories are baseless and are not grounded in accepted scientific theory.”

“The mobile industry is putting 100% of its effort into ensuring that the UK remains connected and our workers and the mobile operators have rightly been recognised by the Government as key to the national effort.”