Europe 1 with AFP 4:55 p.m., September 21, 2021

Two monks from a fundamentalist Catholic convent in the Rhône were indicted last week for attacking relay antennas out of hostility to the deployment of 5G, AFP learned Monday from a judicial source.

However, the damage is limited.

Two somewhat surprising profiles opposed to the deployment of 5G in France.

According to the Villefranche-sur-Saône prosecutor's office, in the Rhône, confirming information from the regional daily

Le Progrès

, two monks were indicted for attacking relay antennas in mid-September.

The two men, aged 39 and 40, admitted to having first set fire to a first telephone pylon, on the night of September 14 to 15 in Saint-Forgeux, north-west of Lyon.

The damage had been limited.

The two monks tried to set fire to two cell towers

The following night, the two monks, members of a convent located in Beaujolais, were arrested in flagrante delicto by the gendarmes, while they were trying to set fire to an antenna in another town, in Ancy.

Placed in custody and then presented to an examining magistrate, they acknowledged the facts, explaining that they had acted "to protect the population from the harmful effects" of 5G, Villefranche prosecutor Laëtitia Francart told AFP.

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Indicted for "destruction and attempted destruction by incendiary means" and "criminal association", the two monks were placed under judicial supervision. They are part of a Capuchin community based at the Saint-François convent in Villié-Morgon, attached to the fundamentalist movement of the Fraternity Sacerdotale Saint-Pie X, according to its website. According to

Le Progrès

, a spokesperson for the convent spoke of "an isolated act and a youthful mistake". "The waves are very harmful to health and they wanted to act for the well-being of mankind," she told the newspaper.