Outrageous moment a 5G protester in the hippie capital of Australia walks into a truck and pretends to be knocked out in front of police - prompting frantic screams from other demonstrators
- A 5G protester walked into a truck and pretended to be knocked out
- The demonstrators are unhappy with Telstra's new 5G network at Mullumbimby
- The protesters shared videos of their demonstrations throughout the week
An anti-5G protester walked into a truck and pretended to be knocked out during a demonstration in front of police.
Hundreds of activists ignored social distancing rules to gather in Mullumbimby, near Byron Bay in northern New South Wales, throughout the week to protest against an upgrade of a Telstra tower.
Video footage shared to Facebook by one of the protesters on Wednesday showed police officers move the crowd on so a truck could access the area.
The tow truck began to reverse along the street as one of the protesters stood on the gutter.
The man lunged forward and smashed his head into the truck's rear view mirror, before falling backward on the ground.
He flung his arms out on the concrete before rolling onto his side, while his fellow protesters screamed.
'What the f***?' one yelled. 'You just knocked someone over.'
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Protesters shrieked and circled around the man, who lay still.
One woman pulled at the man's arms while other protesters berated police observing nearby.
According to Dean Jefferys, the man who posted the video, the truck was trying to remove a car that was 'locking in the 5G equipment'.
Protesters shrieked and circled around the man, who appeared to be unresponsive
Pictured: Police observe as the protester lies on the ground
'I am shocked that the government would roll out 5G during a lockdown hoping to avoid any protests. Not in Mullumbimby thank god,' he wrote.
'Good on everyone and good for keeping two meters apart.'
Mr Jeffreys told 7News he feared electromagnetic radiation from 5G would affect his immunity.
'Especially in this age of coronavirus, you want to have your immunity as strong as you can,' he said.
In other videos shared to his Facebook, Mr Jeffreys was arrested and dragged by police into a paddy wagon after he tried to stop the truck.
Footage of the clash shows protesters yelling 'No 5G' under the watchful eye of police who were there to protect Telstra workers.
A New South Wales Police spokeswoman confirmed to Daily Mail Australia a police operation took place but were unable to provide further detail.
Mr Jefferys said he was later released without any charges laid.
Local Dean Jefferys is pictured being arrested and dragged by police into a paddy wagon after he tried to stop a truck intending to remove a car that was blocking 5G installing equipment
Mr Jefferys claims he was arrested and not charged over the incident and is planning another demonstration in Mullumbimby on Thursday
The demonstrators were angry 5G is being installed during a lockdown in the hope of avoiding community opposition.
'This is clearly against the community's desires as expressed recently when thousands of residents turned up at Mullumbimby councils chambers and public meetings,' Mr Jefferys said.
'People who attended the protest mainly kept a safe distance from everyone else. Yet when I made my sit down protest that I am allowed to do under our constitution and I ask police to keep a safe social distance I was instantly arrested.'
The protest is breaking coronavirus social distancing rules as Australians are banned from gathering in groups of more than two people.
Byron Shire Council on March 19 said it did not support the proposed upgrade and continued to support a moratorium on the installation of 5G technology.
Council wanted a review into the 'cumulative impacts' of 5G, information on who had responsibility for ongoing monitoring, and a NSW government commitment to review planning processes.
Mullumbimby man Dan Sanderson posted a video to social media on Wednesday in which people could be seen holding signs claiming 5G was 'dangerous to wildlife and children' and 'unsafe and untested'.
Protester Kim Sporton told Mr Sanderson the gathering was a 'big victory' and that her group, known as Northern Rivers for Safe Technology, was concerned about surveillance issues relating to 5G technology.
Residents fear 5G technology can have harmful effects on health but these claims have been debunked by the scientific community
Pictured: The telecommunication tower Telstra workers were trying to access for 5G network upgrades
A Telstra spokeswoman wouldn't comment on the specific incident but said 5G coverage will be rolled out to 35 Australian cities by the end of June.
'To date, we have commenced the rollout of 5G in 32 cities around Australia,' she told Daily Mail Australia.
'Our rollout has been focused on cities, regional centres and high traffic areas with a view to offering 5G to as many of our customers as fast as possible.'
Interest in ridiculous theories that the ultra-fast mobile technology causes coronavirus have swept across the globe during the health crisis, despite experts' desperate efforts to debunk the claims.
There was a flood of interest when 5G technology was first rolled out Australia last May before being renewed when the pandemic hit Australia's shores earlier this year.
Australian professor of medicine, and public health advocate John Dwyer described conspiracy claims that 5G causes the deadly virus as 'dangerous nonsense'.
He also refuted claims 5G technology is harmful to our health.
'It's right up there with wind farms causing cancer,' Professor Dwyer told Channel Seven earlier this month.
'At this time in the fight against the epidemic, this is dangerous nonsense. Even to have a few people think differently that social distancing isn't for them is a silly idea and is putting all of us at risk.'
'For some people, the idea of a conspiracy theory turns them on. Most of the time, it doesn't matter that much but in this particular case, it's dangerous.'
WHAT IS 5G AND WHAT DOES IT DO?
The evolution of the G system started in 1980 with the invention of the mobile phone which allowed for analogue data to be transmitted via phone calls.
Digital came into play in 1991 with 2G and SMS and MMS capabilities were launched.
Since then, the capabilities and carrying capacity for the mobile network has increased massively.
More data can be transferred from one point to another via the mobile network quicker than ever.
5G is expected to be 100 times faster than the currently used 4G.
Whilst the jump from 3G to 4G was most beneficial for mobile browsing and working, the step to 5G will be so fast they become almost real-time.
That means mobile operations will be just as fast as office-based internet connections.
Potential uses for 5g include:
- Simultaneous translation of several languages in a party conference call
- Self-driving cars can stream movies, music and navigation information from the cloud
- A full length 8GB film can be downloaded in six seconds.
5G is expected to be so quick and efficient it is possible it could start the end of wired connections.
By the end of 2020, industry estimates claim 50 billion devices will be connected to 5G.
The evolution of from 1G to 5G. The predicted speed of 5G is more than 1Gbps - 1,000 times greater than the existing speed of 4G and could be implemented in laptops of the future
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