5G mast set aflame in leafy Liverpool district, half an hour's walk from Penny Lane
- Reference: 1590597677
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/27/5g_mast_arson_liverpool/
- Source link:
Firefighters were called to the mast after nearby residents reported hearing a large bang, followed by smoke and flames. According to police, a suspect was seen fleeing the area on an electric bike, wearing black clothes.
The mast, which was damaged but not destroyed, was located on Brodie Avenue, situated in the heart of Liverpool's affluent Mossley Hill area. Signage on the attached cabinets indicate it was jointly operated by EE and Three.
EE told The Reg : "Mindless attacks deliberately removing mobile signal is a reckless, harmful and dangerous thing to do and aside from the obvious risk to our colleagues could have serious consequences, from preventing a call reaching the ambulance service, to stopping families being able to talk to each other.
"These senseless crimes are creating unnecessary risk to human life, both to those that live in the areas being targeted and to the emergency services working to contain the situation. Every incident is being reported by our teams and we are increasing security at high risk sites."
"Our guard patrols have been supplied with body cameras and will immediately alert the local police force to any suspicious activity."
Merseyside Fire Service [1]confirmed to the Beeb the fire had been started deliberately.
Interestingly, The Register has [2]unearthed a pending planning request from O2's parent firm, Telefónica Limited, to place a mast of its own on the same road. Given the current circumstances, it's plausible it is having second thoughts right now.
The motivation behind why this mast was damaged is unclear, although it likely has something to do with the widespread (and false) conspiracy theory linking COVID-19 to 5G mobile technologies.
Liverpool has emerged as a hotbed for these conspiracies. Several phone masts in the city have been destroyed by arsonists, including ones that were serving bog-standard 3G/4G signals.
Earlier this month, a man pleaded guilty to arson in Liverpool Crown Court after he torched a mast belonging to Vodafone. Michael Whitty, 47, from Kirkby, was [3]warned that a custodial sentence was inevitable when his case resumes in June.
As this publication's sole Merseyside-based correspondent, this enmity towards 5G is something I've witnessed personally. Anti-5G graffiti is everywhere, particularly as you drive into the city centre.
A lack of digital literacy is part of the problem. If you haven't grown up with the internet, it's often difficult to distinguish fact from fiction online, particularly when you're spun a convincing story by sophisticated bullshit merchants, [4]like David Icke and that slick-talking "Vodafone exec" who turned out to be a cryptocurrency-loving evangelical pastor from London.
But some would argue that mistrust in institutions plays a significant role here. There's little trust in "the establishment", particularly in a city like Liverpool, where generations of neglect from central government has fostered a "them and us" atmosphere in some quarters.
And when people can't trust institutions, some will inevitably drift towards fringe ideologies, swallowing wild conspiracy theories. ®
[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-52818328
[2] http://northgate.liverpool.gov.uk/PlanningExplorer17/Generic/StdDetails.aspx?PT=Planning%20Applications%20On-Line&TYPE=PL/PlanningPK.xml&PARAM0=1177002&XSLT=/PlanningExplorer17/SiteFiles/Skins/Liverpool_WIP/xslt/PL/PLDetails.xslt&FT=Planning%20Application%20Details&PUBLIC=Y&XMLSIDE=/PlanningExplorer17/SiteFiles/Skins/Liverpool_WIP/Menus/PL.xml&DAURI=PLANNING
[3] https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/man-faces-prison-setting-vodafone-18269904
[4] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/04/britains_anti5g_protests/
CCTV: gotta love 'em!
Ring each mast about 1/3rd to halfway up with multiple cameras, overlapping FOVs, so that you can't approach the structure without appearing on at least one of them. Ring the bottom of each site with still more of them pointing upwards so that you can't escape getting seen no matter how hard you try to look away.
Sure you can wear a mask or another face cover, but then all the other cameras in the area can backtrack your sorry arse until one reveals your face for the plods to nab.
Last but not least, hire squirrels to pull a Foamy the Angry Squirrel supersonic nut attack to the skull of any twit that tries attacking the mast. Pull back your arm to lob a molotov & a squirrel puts an acorn sniper shot through your arse.
Posting anon because I don't want to endanger my supply of dried frog pills. =-)P
All those questions that I asked then I was a child. Questions like:
"How could anyone have voted for a weird looking racist psychopath with delusions of grandeur and a tendency to shout a lot and throw tantrums?"
"Why would anyone follow a lightweight nobody copycat of said fascist anywhere else?"
"Why would anyone try to harm the slightly dotty old lady who lived in the overgrown cottage at the end of the village, much less set her on fire?"
"How could anyone thing that other genders / other races / other sexualities etc are anything less than equal?"*
"Why would anyone worship a mythic being with a beard?" **
It's all clear now. The answer is stupid people. It always was stupid people. Perhaps my five year old self should have made it abundantly clear to the powers that were / be that I do not need a practical demonstration. Particularly not when I'm well past middle age, and I'm no longer interested in the questions that I asked as a bairn.
*My parents were very progressive
**God. We all know that Father Christmas exists, of course.
On an electric bike
Oh god the poor man will hve covid cobblets to deal with now!
It'll be a self-limiting situation. When all the cellular infra-structure in an area gets destroyed there'll be no means for further conspiracy theories to spread to the gullible.