Similarly to the Blauwe, they now pay rent according to what they can afford. Someone on benefits pays about f100 a month, including electricity. If you earn you pay more, if you have nothing you pay nothing. The squatters bought only the upstairs living space. Downstairs was 're- squatted' and it will, of course, only be evicted if the current owners start proceedings.
All events held in the venue are benefits for action groups.
These big squats work, it seems, because they exist for, and 'belong' to, as many different groups as want to use them. Each is organised individually but remains part of the cooperative which meets regularly. Following three years of negotiations, the Binnenpret was legalised last year. We are grounded to the neighbourhood. Sitting steaming in the Turkish bath, waiting for a few oranges to be freshly squeezed for you, it takes an imaginative leap to picture a few nervous squatters breaking into this building one night 11 years ago.