Two Catholic monks in south-eastern France have been charged for setting fire to 5G network masts to highlight the technology’s alleged health risks.  

Confessing to police, the monks from an ultra-conservative in the Rhone region, said they set out in the dead of night last week to burn down the first mast.

But their luck ran out as they were arrested while trying to set ablaze the second mast.  

The actual damage was minimal but the duo was charged with arson, AFP reported.

However, the unrepentant men told an investigator that they wanted “to warn the population against the harmful effects of 5G,” Villefranche city prosecutor Laetitia Francart told AFP.

Telecom operators, promising game-changing mobile technology have faced fierce resistance from groups that allege that 5G waves pose grave health risks.

The Capuchin monastery to which they belonged appeared to support the views of the monks.

“The waves are very harmful for health, and they wanted to act for the well-being of humanity,” a spokeswoman for the monks told regional newspaper Le Progres.

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