This initiative has been presented by public organizations and community unions made up of local residents. These citizens are protesting the agreement concluded by Ada Colau’s municipal government and Gremio de Restauración de Barcelona with the purpose of ending the so-called “terrace war.”
As those who have organized the petition and the signature collection maintain, the extent agreement puts at risk the peaceful co-existence of the restaurant sector and the ordinary residents of Barcelona. In their opinion, the new law violates the law established to maintain “affordability, mobility, and rest” for residents as well as the “collective and economic interests.” The stipulations of the petitioners include the demand to increase the minimum required distance between restaurant terraces and the facades of residential buildings.
The supporters of this initiative plan to collect 15,000 signatures by the end of March and carry these protests across Barcelona. As a demonstration for this campaign, these residents have set up a terrace in front of the city mayor’s office on Sant Jaume square.
The initiators of the protests include such organizations as Federación de Asociaciones de Vecinos de Barcelona (FAVB), Assemblea de Barris per un Turisme Sostenible (ABTS), Plataforma Carrers per a Tothom, Associació Catalana per a la Integració del Cec (Acic), and Federació Ecom.
The Spanish mass media first gave the name “terrace war” to the conflict between the Barcelona mayor’s office and the restaurant business, which was triggered by the new law on terraces of 2014. This legislation bound restaurateurs to eliminate over 2,000 seats on the terraces of their establishments, so that their total space would meet the new requirements.