Multiple Dutch cell towers attacked by anti-5G activists

In early April 2020, a wave of arson and sabotage struck mobile telecommunications masts across the Netherlands. On 11 April 2020, Reuters, citing the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, reported that several cellular broadcasting towers had been damaged in the preceding week by opponents of the country's 5G rollout, with four such incidents recorded in that period. The Monet Foundation, the industry body that coordinates the placement of cell towers in the Netherlands, said the attacks disrupted all cellular service in affected areas and warned that the infrastructure also carries connectivity for hospitals and care homes.

Reporting by RCR Wireless News, drawing on the Monet Foundation and the Dutch government, identified targeted sites in Rotterdam, Liessel, Beesd and Nuenen. At one location, anti-5G profanity was spray-painted on a transmission box, cited as a Fuck 5G slogan left at the scene. The Dutch National Coordinator for Security and Counterterrorism (NCTV) registered various incidents around broadcasting masts ranging from sabotage to arson and named opposition to 5G as a probable cause.

The attacks were driven by conspiracy theories, amplified during the COVID-19 pandemic, that falsely linked 5G radio signals to the spread of the coronavirus, alongside older claims that the technology harms human health. There is no scientific basis for either claim. The same false narrative fuelled a parallel wave of mast arsons in Britain, including a fire at a tower in Sparkhill, Birmingham, with similar incidents reported elsewhere in Europe.

This was domestic, conspiracy-driven vandalism and arson by anti-5G activists, not state-directed hybrid sabotage. Perpetrators were largely unidentified, and authorities hedged on attribution while pointing to anti-5G opposition as the likely motive. The incidents are notable for showing how online disinformation, here the debunked claim tying 5G to COVID-19, can translate into real attacks on critical communications infrastructure. The Dutch case formed part of a broader European pattern, most acute in the United Kingdom, during spring 2020.