The victory of the 300 immigrants carrying on a six week hunger strike in Athens and Thessaloniki marked a victory for all immigrants living in Greece. After 45 days without giving up of their struggle in a demand for social justice and basic human rights, the workers without papers have finally met with the ministers of Interior, Health, Civil Protection and other vice-ministers yesterday.

They wanted the state to stop treating them like illegal immigrants and grant them permanent residence status as well as work permits. Many of the hunger strikers had lived and worked in Greece for more than six years.

The compromise has been reached after a public prosecutor instructed state doctors to take all necessary actions to prevent the strikers from dying, as more than 100 immigrants were already in very dangerous conditions and had been taken to hospital to be treated for acute kidney failure.

The government has persuaded them to agree on a compromise under which they will have temporary residence permits that will be automatically renewed every six months while individual cases are supposed to be investigated.

The government representatives have proposed them the following “package” of proposals (which was accepted by the migrants assembly): after eight years of residence in the country, legalisation of the migrants after ministerial decision; possibility of travelling to their origin countries under the regime of tolerance and the ability to extend indefinitely the status of the six-months tolerance until they fill the years and the conditions required for the legalisation.

Greece has become the major transit point for illegal migration into the European Union. In the first semester of 2010, 45,000 people crossed the border into its territory.