Limassol sees second cell phone antenna arson

Limassol is proving to be an unsafe place for cell phone antennas, as police on Tuesday were searching for the perpetrators of a second arson attack within a month.

According to the police, unknown persons attempted on Monday night to set on fire a cell phone antenna placed at a Limassol supermarket.

The arson attempt was discovered on Tuesday by a CYTA worker who had gone to figure out why the area was having connectivity issues.

Police and the Ambulance Service were called to the scene, finding that the perpetrators attempted to set the antenna on fire using flammable material, but the fire failed to spread causing relatively limited damage.

Evidence was collected from the scene to aid police in their search for those behind the attack.

Monday night’s arson attack followed another similar incident that took place in Limassol on April 13, when another CYTA cell phone tower was set alight after it was mistakenly identified as a 5G cell tower, as Cyprus is no stranger to conspiracy theories linking 5G technology and the coronavirus pandemic.

Locally, beyond health concerns associated with 5G, some are raising the alarm over the alleged quiet installation of 5G infrastructure amid the coronavirus lockdown.

The rumble grew to such a degree that required the President of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicos Anastasiades, to step in to set the record straight.

In mid-April, Anastasiades said no that company has been granted license to install 5G networks on the island, describing building concerns regarding 5G as “unfounded” and based on “fake news.”

Anastasiades referred to the first Limassol cell phone antenna arson as “a criminal act”, that had deprived those living in the area, including vulnerable people, of communications services, effectively disrupting and endangering their lives.