A BELFAST councillor has blasted those responsible for a recent spate of attacks on 5G masts in the city.
Multiple masts have been targeted recently the PSNI have confirmed, with the latest incident happening last night.
Police were called to reports of a mast being set alight in the Annadale Embankment area of south Belfast yesterday evening (August 13).
“Officers attended, alongside colleagues from the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service, following a report that a 5G mast was alight, shortly after 10.15pm,” PSNI Inspector Roisin Brown said today.
“This is just one of a number of 5G masts that have been set on fire recently and I cannot emphasise enough the dangers of lighting fire to electrical equipment,” she added.
“This is extremely reckless, and those responsible are putting themselves and members of the public at serious risk.”
South Belfast SDLP councillor Gary McKeown has condemned the attack.
“This mindless attack on an essential piece of infrastructure will impact on people’s daily lives right across the area,” he said.
“The mobile signal is bad enough in Belfast without ridiculous acts like this adding to it,” he added.
“We all rely on our mobile phones as part of our daily lives, but some members of our community are particularly dependent on them, whether it’s older people living alone, carers, or people running community organisations or small businesses.
“This is who will be hit the hardest by this misguided vandalism.
“We’ve already seen a spate of similar attacks in west Belfast. The last thing anyone wants to see is it spreading to other parts of the city. This has to stop.”
The PSNI has urged anyone who witnessed last night’s incident to contact them.
“We are treating this as arson and would ask that anyone with information or dash cam footage to contact us on 101 quoting reference 1956 of 13/08/25,” they said.