Arson Attack on West Belfast 5G Mast Extinguished

The Northern Ireland Fire Service has announced that a 5G mast in west Belfast, which was “deliberately” set on fire, has been extinguished. The incident on the Andersonstown Road was reported just before 22:00 GMT on Wednesday. Paul Doherty, an SDLP councillor for the area whose office is situated near the mast, stated he received a call expressing concern that the structure could “collapse onto a building.” He described the act as “vandalism” and noted “a pattern” of this kind of behaviour in the locality. Doherty indicated that the situation is impacting local businesses, which are facing a “real struggle” with signal reception. He added that “nurses on call” cannot receive messages and individuals are “unable to pick up the phone to call for assistance.” Furthermore, a taxi depot located on the Glen Road has experienced “trouble” for several months due to comparable occurrences, Doherty reported. He emphasized, “It’s having a serious impact on people’s day-to-day lives.” Doherty urged the perpetrators to “wise up” and remarked that the consequences would have been “very serious” had the mast fallen.