Protesters shut down cellular base station
to protect man with electrical sensitivities

Protesters were briefly able to silence a tower that destroyed the last microwave-free place available to a 32-year-old man suffering from severe electrical sensitivities.

Keywords: mobile phone, base station, white zone, protest, activism, direct action, electrical sensitivity

The Black Forest is a mountainous region of Germany with many hills that block the radiation from cellular base stations. St. Märgen was one of the last “white zones” where mobile phones did not work and people could live free from microwave radiation.

Ulrich Weiner was 27 years old when he became disabled by electrical sensitivities in 2004. A year later he moved to St. Märgen where he lived in a camping trailer under primitive conditions. He even had to gather water from a local stream. Local people brought him food and other necessities.

He had tried some of the few other tower-free areas left, but primitive camping was not legal there and he would not have the local support he needed. St. Märgen was simply his last option.

After four years there, a mobile phone base station was constructed not far from Ulrich Weiner’s campsite. His trailer was shielded against microwaves, but that didn’t help when he needed to go outside.

Protesters supporting Ulrich Weiner seized the tower. One woman climbed the tower wearing a radiation protection suit and covered the transmitter with a shielding material, thereby silencing it. The activists locked themselves to the tower. The local police were unable to handle the situation and had to get assistance from a special police unit from Göppingen before the protesters were removed from the tower.

Source: Chemical Sensitivity Network Deutschland.