Nearly three years after the commercial launch of 5G, opponents of the fifth-generation mobile phone standard are continuing their actions. Throughout the territory, collectives are multiplying legal procedures, petitions and demonstrations to contest the establishment of a relay antenna in their environment.
On July 21, the inhabitants of Sarreguemines were invited to gather in front of the town hall of this Lorraine commune. The object of their anger: the installation of a tower 18 meters high by the operator Free, rue du Parc, near a residential area and a high school with a thousand students.
An offshoot of the Rhône Alpes Relay Antenna Citizen Coordination (CCARRA), the Prevention Environment 57 collective demands that the antenna be installed more than 500 meters from the first dwellings. “Impacts on health, visual pollution, devaluation of heritage… The arguments seem to hit the mark. His petition has already gathered nearly 15,500 signatures according to The Lorraine Republican.
Another collective, Environnement Choisi 57, has been formed, not far away, in the neighboring town of Woustviller. This is also to oppose the project to build a relay antenna, from SFR this time. In both cases, residents complain that they were not informed and consulted.
Bouygues Telecom and SFR give up in the Gard
The Grand Est is not the only anti-5G front. In December, the inhabitants of the Kerfichant district in Lorient discovered the upcoming installation of Free Mobile antennas on the roof of social housing in their district. Here again, they are mobilizing against the health hazard they represent, the depreciation of the real estate value of their accommodation, not to mention the unsightly side of the antennas invading their daily lives. According to West Francethe Breton collective was dismissed by the courts.
Sometimes success is at the rendezvous. After nine months of procedure and actions of all kinds, Bouygues Telecom and SFR had to give up the establishment of a pylon, which was to house six antennas, in Sumène, in the Cévennes valley (Gard). The town hall, which carried out the project with the two telecom operators, said it was disappointed. ” For her, it was above all a tool for economic development, an opportunity to open up this rural town’s digital isolation by switching from 4G to 5G. “, relates France 3.
Local elected officials between a rock and a hard place
The opposite is true in Labastide-Saint-Georges (Tarn), a town of 2,000 inhabitants also located in Occitania. It is “ The death in the soul that the mayor had to sign an order authorizing the installation of a pylon operated by SFR despite the opposition of some of his constituents. “ I am disappointed, even stunned, he explains to France 3. Our landscape and our living environment could be altered. »
In protest, opponents of the project came gagged during the signing of this decree in order to signal their dissatisfaction. Gathered within the Collectif Onde Bastidienne, residents had, some time earlier, hoisted red balloons to an altitude of 42 meters to give an idea of the height of the future pylon.
Placed between a rock and a hard place, local elected officials have little leeway. They can still invoke the Abeille law of February 9, 2015, relating to sobriety, transparency, information and consultation regarding exposure to electromagnetic waves. A legal vehicle which should normally promote negotiation between an operator, a local authority and local residents.
Published in February 2022, an updated opinion from the National Health Security Agency (ANSES) confirmed, like the previous one, that the new generation of mobile networks did not represent new health risks in the current state of knowledge.