PARIS - African immigrants on the 40th day of a hunger strike to demand the right to stay in France were unbowed yesterday after a police bid to end their protest, vowing to keep up the fast as supporters joined it. The eviction of the 10 hunger strikers from a Paris church by riot police on Monday earned the centre right government a barrage of criticism and threats of legal action. It also led to the widening of the protest.
Police took the 10 to hospitals after the raid on the Saint Bernard church. But by the end of Monday they were back at the church. A spokesman for the hunger strikers' support group said some 50 volunteers from human rights associations were fasting yesterday in solidarity with the Africans.