Migrants' hunger strike puts Belgian government in danger

Asylum seekers who are among several hundred migrants requesting to be regularised by the Belgian government to have access to healthcare, take part in a hunger strike for more than 7 weeks while dozens started a thirst strike on July 16, at the Saint-Jean-Baptiste au Beguinage church, in Brussels, Belgium, July 19, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Hundreds of undocumented immigrants, on hunger strike in Brussels for the last two months to demand residence rights, have begun refusing water, putting themselves close to death and the Belgian government in danger of collapse.

Around 400 migrants, many of whom have been in Belgium for years, are already emaciated after refusing food since May 23, and three-quarters of them decided on Friday to stop receiving water or saline drips.