Immigrants seize Spanish church

MADRID, Spain -- Hundreds of illegal immigrants have occupied a church in Barcelona and began a hunger strike to demand the right to live and work in Spain legally.

The 328 immigrants, from Pakistan, Russia, Ecuador, India and Morocco, began their hunger strike late on Saturday in the city's Santa Maria Pi church.

The immigrants, who have been working illegal in the northeastern region of Catalonia, plan to continue the protest until a solution was found, Norma Falconi, a spokeswoman for the immigrant rights group Documents for Everybody, told the state-run news agency EFE on Sunday.

The occupation was supported by a crowd of 1,000 people who protested in the city of Valencia to demand government help for the immigrants ahead of the introduction next Tuesday of a new law on immigration.

Under the new law, all immigrants without work permits face possible expulsion.

The law will also bar them from welfare rights, including health services and housing.

Immigrant groups have condemned the new law as "inhuman."

In southern Spain, police on Sunday caught 53 would-be immigrants trying to reach Spain's southern coast in makeshift boats from Algeria and Morocco. One person was found dead and five were missing, EFE reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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