Mobile engineers are being threatened and harassed on Facebook pages set up by anti-5G campaigners, the Irish Independent can reveal.

"A 22 or a good sling shot will sort them out," said one post.

It came in response to a video posted of telecoms workers upgrading an Eir mast in Letterkenny on the 'Stop 5G Letterkenny' Facebook page.

Facebook has been made aware of the harassment content, which remains publicly posted on the page.

The Letterkenny threats were made just days before an Eir mast was attacked at a site adjacent to Letterkenny Hospital. The mast was not being upgraded to 5G, but was instead being modified to provide better 4G coverage for the hospital and its immediate surroundings.

Photos showing the aftermath of the attack on the mobile masts were welcomed by commentators on the Stop 5G Letterkenny Facebook group.

"Brilliant news," said several commenters. "They need to be all burned down now before they try and roll it out," said another. The group shared a post from another activist, suggesting that the current coronavirus pandemic was "preplanned" as a cover to allow for speedier rollout of 5G.

In Dublin, engineers for the telecoms maintenance firm were attacked with onions last week in Ballyfermot in what the company says related to anti-5G sentiment.

In the UK, at least 40 towers and mobile sites have been set alight or vandalised by fringe activists and conspiracy theorists who allege that 5G masts cause cancer or are connected to the coronavirus.

The rising tension is putting operators on alert, with one major network now asking for protection from gardaí at local sites.

Earlier this week, the British broadcasting regulator, Ofcom, received more than 400 complaints when the Northern Irish anchorman of the ITV 'This Morning' programme suggested that mainstream media was wrongly "slapping down" 5G health-scare stories because they "suited a state narrative".

On unproven fears linking 5G to health problems, Eamonn Holmes also claimed the mainstream media "does not know that they're not true".

The next day he said that his comments "may have been misinterpreted" and acknowledged that "there is no connection" between Covid-19 and 5G.

"We are starting to remove false claims that 5G technology causes the symptoms or contraction of Covid-19 under our existing policies against harmful misinformation," a spokesperson for Facebook Ireland told the Irish Independent. "We are enforcing these policies globally, so if we are made aware of this content in Ireland it will be removed."

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Irish Independent