Paphos primary school children strike over 5G tower

Primary school children in the Paphos village of Konia went  on strike on Thursday in protest at the installation of a 5G cell tower in the village.

The children protested outside their school for two hours, holding placards bearing slogans such as “we have a right to life”, “radiation damages health”, and “no 5G near school”.

Speaking at the protest, Konia Mukhtar Kyriakos Kyriakou said “the whole community is protesting against the placement of the tower.”

There are 280 students at the school who are at “immediate risk” from the tower’s radiation, Kyriakou protested.

He said he and his village council did not know how to submit opinions on the matter during the planning process and therefore their views were not taken into account when it was erected.

With this in mind, he said he supported the strike, and added that the tower should not have been constructed because the school is 200 metres away.

There is also a helipad three kilometres away and “this was not taken into consideration.”

The school’s parents’ association Thomas Nikodemou also spoke at the protest, saying the tower “emits radiation directly at our school.”

Another parent present at the protest, Marios Smilas, said he had had cancer twice and does not want to “risk my children’s lives”.