Chanti Ollin Explained

Chanti Ollin was a self-managed social centre in Mexico City, Mexico, between 2003 and 2017. It was occupied in 2003 by students from the 1999–2000 UNAM strike and participants in Okupa Che. It was a derelict five storey building at Calle Melchor Ocampo 424 in Cuauhtémoc.[1] The name means "house in motion" in the Nahuatl language.

Alongside other squats such as Okupa Che, Chanti Ollin was listed by the Mexican intelligence services as an anarchist organisation attacking the state.[2] It was evicted and re-squatted in 2015.[3] The squat was finally evicted in November 2016.[4] Twenty five people were arrested and then released, and one Guatemalan national was deported. The squatters condemned the illegal eviction.[5] A protest camp was set up outside the building which lasted until February 2017.

Notes and References

  1. González . Robert . de Santiago . Diego . Rodríguez . Marco Antonio . Squatted and Self-Managed Social Centres in Mexico City: Four Case Studies from 1978–2020 . Partecipazione e Conflitto . 2020 . 10.1285/i20356609v13i3p1269.
  2. News: Cortés . Raúl Rodríguez . Los ocho grupos de choque y sus titiriteros . 30 April 2021 . El Universal . 11 October 2019 . es.
  3. News: Dan formal prisión a hombre que invadió el predio "Chanti Ollin" . 3 May 2021 . El Universal . 5 December 2016 . es.
  4. News: Mexico City: Chanti Ollin evicted . 30 April 2021 . squat.net . 24 November 2016.
  5. News: Liberan a 25 detenidos por desalojo del Centro Chanti Ollin . 30 April 2021 . Proceso . 22 November 2016 . spanish.