Nowadays, Barcelona is regarded as one of the global centers for skateboarding. Daily, hordes of tourists visit the city and many bring a board along, not to mention the members of skate camps, skating tours and professional teams that fill the city’s hotel rooms and restaurants. Soon enough, the sport’s bound to follow the fate of its cousin, snowboarding, and become an Olympic event.

At the same time, the local government uses the appealing imagery of skateboarding as a symbol of youth, promoting the sport in different flyers and informative brochures for civic centers advocating activities for young folk, meaning that it’s “cool”. With legislation that has a dubious goal, and the local government often using and benefiting from skateboarding and its imagery, we’re left with a hypocritical arrangement, whereby we may wonder if a civic law supposedly put in practice to ensure social harmony could weigh out our human right to choose how we keep healthy and stay amused in our spare time.

For a growing sporting community, the ambivalence surrounding this legislation calls for revision. Upon the approval of the decree, many a skater stood—supported by many—in protest at St. Jaume Square in front of the Generalitat. Two years have now passed and the ambiguity continues. Lately, a police van remains parked in Plaza dels Angels and agents walk down to the bakery without bothering the plaza dwellers. Instinctively, skaters stampede in fear of loosing their means of pleasure (and pain). Peace.