Nearly 300 clandestine migrants in Greece Wednesday ended their 44-day hunger strike after Interior Minister Yannis Ragoussis met some of their demands, supporters said.
"Following a meeting with the minister, the migrants ended the hunger strike," Ali Abrkaak, an Algerian from a committee supporting their protest, told AFP.
The 286 hunger strikers, mostly in Athens with about 50 in Thessaloniki, are all men mainly from northern Africa. Many of them had worked for years in agriculture in Crete but recently lost their jobs due to Greece's economic crisis.
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Their protest had won support from unions, leftist organisations and foreign and Greek celebrities.
Pressure had mounted on the Greek government after more than 100 of the migrants were tranferred to hospitals in recent days as their health deteriorated.
The migrants were able to obtain a halt to their deportation as well as a promise from the government to reduce from 12 to eight years the time needed to become a legal resident in Greece.
