Residents from Barcelona's mountain-side neighbourhoods held a protest walk this weekend to demand the reopening of paths in the Parc Natural de la Serra de Collserola, four months after the Generalitat de Catalunya closed leisure access across the park following a confirmed case of African swine fever in a wild boar.

For people living in and around Collserola, the dispute is immediate and practical. The restrictions affect everyday access to walking routes and green space used by residents of neighbourhoods on the edge of the park, although the original official notice states that journeys by people living inside the park are not affected.

According to reporting by betevé, the march was organised by local residents from neighbourhoods bordering Collserola who are calling for the paths to reopen. Other outlets reported turnout at around 200 people, but the official notices supplied do not give a participation figure.

"As of Saturday 29 November, access to the whole of Collserola Natural Park is restricted for leisure activities," the park consortium said in its official notice, issued following instructions from the Generalitat's Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food.

The closure was activated after the confirmation of an African swine fever outbreak in Bellaterra. In the same notice, the park said the Generalitat had set a 20-kilometre surveillance perimeter around the affected area, with stricter measures within a 6-kilometre radius. Although the infected wild boar were found outside the park boundaries, the restriction was extended to the whole mountain range because of the risk of spread.

The official notice also says African swine fever does not affect people, but poses a serious risk to the pig farming sector.

What the restrictions cover

The measures announced by the Collserola park consortium and Barcelona City Council cover leisure access to the natural area. Barcelona City Council said the Government of Catalonia had ordered the perimeter closure after the case was detected.

  • Leisure access to the whole Collserola Natural Park was restricted from Saturday 29 November, according to the park consortium notice.
  • The containment zone includes a 20-kilometre surveillance perimeter around the outbreak, with tighter controls within 6 kilometres.
  • The notice states that residents living inside the park are exempt when making their usual journeys.
  • Can Coll Environmental Education Centre was ordered to close on the following Sunday to reduce the risk of contagion.

Earlier reporting cited by Catalan News said the park had previously only been closed at night before the full closure was announced after a wild boar tested positive in the Barcelona area. Catalan Agriculture Minister Òscar Ordeig said at the time that treating Collserola as a single containment block responded to technical criteria.

"The decision to close the area responds to technical criteria and a strategy treating Collserola as a single containment block," Ordeig said, according to Catalan News.

What residents can do now

Residents who want to check the current rules can use the official information published by Barcelona City Council. The park consortium's original notice, published at bdv.cat, remains the key source for the scope of the restrictions.

People who want to voice concerns over the closures can do so through their district and council participation channels, or through neighbourhood associations involved in the protest, though the official notices provided do not list a single formal objections process for the path restrictions.

The concrete position from the official notices remains unchanged in the material supplied: leisure access to the whole of Collserola was restricted under the African swine fever containment measures, while movements by residents living inside the park were not included in that ban.

Primary sources: Barcelona City Council, govern.cat. Reported by Source Text Link, Blanca Martinez de Foix, Natàlia Vila, Martina Alcobendas, catalannews.com, Natàlia Vila, barna.news, Guillermo Altarriba Vilanova, La Vanguardia, María Riera, Ainhoa Nicolau Gallego, Alessandro Elia, betevé.