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Updated July 21st, 2021 at 18:03 IST

400 migrants on hunger strike in Brussels church

Four-hundred undocumented migrants have been on hunger strike in the House of Compassion church in Brussels, Belgium for 57 days.

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IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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Four-hundred undocumented migrants have been on hunger strike in the House of Compassion church in Brussels, Belgium for 57 days.

The migrants desperate to obtain legal residency papers began their hunger strike on May 23 at two universities and the House of Compasssion.

Some said they have been living and working in the European nation of 11.5 million for a decade.

In recent days, some of the migrants have also started refusing water.

Nine have accepted to be taken to hospital.

Sarah Melsens, from the NGO Doctors of the World, said on Monday that the situation was "very dangerous after so many days of hunger strike".

"This means that a thirst striker will be in danger of dying if he doesn't call an ambulance in time to be taken to hospital. And unfortunately that could happen today."

Dr Reginald Moreels, a former Belgian government minister, said "Collective regularisation does not equal opening the borders."

Ghalem, a 53-year-old hunger striker, said "I have got a degree in electromechanics, but I am here illegally so I can't find work with that degree and do odd jobs here and there."

"These are all people who have a job in the black economy, but if one would regularise them and give them a dignified existence, not staying with slumlords, they would contribute to our social security," Moreels said.

"They could fill in the jobs where there is a shortage of workers."

IMAGE: AP

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Published July 21st, 2021 at 18:03 IST

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