Chanti Ollin, a well-known autonomous cultural center in the gentrified financial district of Mexico City, was violently evicted on November 22. Eight hundred riot police, two helicopters, and an armored car executed the operation, illegally breaking into the building and detaining 26 individuals without so much as a judicial order. This eviction takes place against the backdrop of Mexico City's new constitution, which seeks to privatize land and resources and suppress any political or cultural activity that disrupts this profit-making program.

Members of Chanti Ollin are calling for those who stand in solidarity across the globe to deliver a statement to the nearest Mexican Embassy, either in person or by e-mail. Demands include the restitution of the property to the collectives that use it, and the closure of the open cases against individuals detained during the eviction.

Chanti Ollin writes: This eviction is part of a process of the elitization of cities that is being executed by governments across the globe, in which the allocation of territories to large-scale investors favors their monopolistic expansion. Within this plan, real estate agencies carry out the fundamental function of usurpation and re-allocation.

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