A WOMAN was left with a cut to her hand after removing an anti-mask sticker – which had a concealed razor blade attached to it – from a traffic light pole.

The bright yellow sticker reading, in bold capital letters, ‘Masks don’t work’, had been placed on a traffic light pole on Cowbridge Road in Canton, Cardiff. 

“I was just waiting to cross the road and saw a big yellow sticker with the corner peeling off and I thought I’d get rid of that,” said the woman who asked to be named only by her first name, Layla. 

“I pulled it down and crushed it in my hand and thought 'ouch'. I unscrunched the sticker and found the blade inside. I wasn’t too amused. 

“I got a bundle of tissues and walked home and got the first aid kit out.” 

After cleaning her wound Layla, who was returning from a shopping trip on Tuesday, July 27, shared a photograph of the sticker, the razor and the bloodstained tissues to Twitter, where it was shared more than 1,000 times.

She was then advised, by others on Twitter, to get tested for potential infections. 

Layla said she contacted her GP on Wednesday and isn’t unduly concerned about the potential risk. 

MORE NEWS:

She said: “The cut has fixed up quite nice and it looked particularly bad as there was a lot of blood but it’s just a small cut. I phoned the GP for a blood test and I’m waiting for the results but the blade looked fairly clean and the doctor said the cut didn’t look infected.” 

South Wales Argus: Layla's tweet after her hand was cutLayla's tweet after her hand was cut

Twitter users also warned that concealing razors behind stickers which are likely to be pulled down is a common tactic of far-right groups and advised anyone removing stickers to use a piece of hard plastic. 

Underneath the bold lettering the message “Masks - A visual prop to drive fear & prolong the ‘pandemic’" had also been printed on the sticker.

There is no suggestion the group mentioned on the sticker is responsible for the razor blade.

Layla said she often takes down stickers promoting anti-mask or anti-vaccine conspiracies and is particularly concerned as she has twice had Covid. 

“I had coronavirus twice and it really messed me up. It took me about six weeks to get over it the second time and I have several friends who work in health care and they say the amount of people who say something silly like they don’t need to wear a mask or they won’t get Covid as they’ve eaten something special, it really winds me up that people fall for such obvious misinformation that harms people.” 

Stickers from other lockdown-sceptic groups have also been reported around Cardiff and have also been spotted by Layla. 

“I hadn’t seen this specific yellow one before but I’ve seen a lot saying things like ‘I’m intelligent, I’ll not get vaccinated’. I’ve seen a lot of those around the city centre, Canton and Riverside.” 

Layla reported her injury to the police and said she was told officers will look to see if CCTV can help identify whoever placed the sticker on the pole. 

She said she would also like anyone hiding razors behind stickers to think their actions through. 

“These people think it’s going to be people who disagree with them who take them down but nine times out of 10 it will be a council worker or a curious child so they should think who is going to take them down before they go and do that. I’m sure they don’t think who is going to be hurt.” 

After sharing her tweet Layla said she had also received abusive private messages: “I had DMs saying things like you deserved to get injured or to get hurt. But that’s just the internet.” 

South Wales Police said: "A 21-year-old woman has reported being cut by a razor blade found glued to the back of a poster. Her hand was cut while removing the poster from a pedestrian crossing in Cowbridge Road East, Canton, on Tuesday evening."

Police say anyone with information can contact South Wales Police quoting *265487 either by calling 101 or sending a private message through the force's Facebook or Twitter pages.

  • This article originally appeared on our sister site The National.