She has a wire mesh wrapped around her head. When asked why, she replies calmly: “When the operator’s installers came, one of them explained to me that beyond 50 meters (from an antenna, editor’s note), there was no health risk… But I’m 30 meters away! He advised me to put a chicken wire around my house to make a Faraday cage. So the solution of the day is to put a wire mesh around my head.” Laurence is one of the sixty demonstrators who came this Saturday morning to dismantle the antennas installed by Free at the end of last year – an installation which took both the inhabitants and the town hall by surprise. Laurence’s house is closest to the pylon which is “60 meters from the next one, details Anne Coste, spokesperson for the collective; and _within a radius of 300 meters we have 26 homes in total: many families, lodges, guest rooms…_“ She herself is 120 meters away and says she is not opposed to 4G but asks that the distance of 300 meters be respected.
– Lionel Cariou
Two other antennas soon to be installed
These 300 meters is what the town hall of Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse has decided to include in its network coverage plan. “More than a year ago, explains Mayor Stéphane Gusméroli, we did a whole lot of consultation work with the State services, the Department of Isère, the Parc de Chartreuse, the ONF (National Forestry Office, editor’s note) and the inhabitants, to define the location of two new antennas which were to be used by the four operators… including Free! _Now Free sits completely on this work to arrive before the others and that exasperates us._“ Especially since the two future antennas which will be installed in six months will cover exactly the same area as the installation of Free, notes the mayor of Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse.
– Lionel Cariou
Stéphane Gusméroli recognizes that his means of action are “very limited (…). We wrote again to the prefect to ask for his support since he can convene a commission – that’s what he told me want to do in January. The city councilor claims to be in a logic of dialogue and consultation and asks Free to listen to them, “to be understanding and to wait for the installation of the other two antennas to see that all areas are covered and that this antenna (in the hamlet of Surchargeat, editor’s note) is useless”.