THE FRENCH Prime Minister, Mr Alain Juppe, last night maintained his tough stance on 300 illegal African immigrants who have been occupying a church in northern Paris for the past seven weeks.
Ten of them are today entering their 50th day on hunger strike in a campaign for residence permits.
Mr Juppe said the immigrants had no right to stay in Fiance but added that their cafes would be studied by the government on an individual basis.
He was speaking after consulting the Council of State, France's highest administrative tribunal, on the interpretation of immigration laws introduced in 1993 and 1994, which are at the centre of the dispute.
The prime minister said the Council of State had confirmed that the approach taken by the government was correct, and that any mass regularisation of the immigrants would be illegal.
A climbdown on the issue, which has developed into a political crisis for the government, was expected after Mr Juppe referred the matter to the council on Wednesday, and his, Interior Minister, Mr Jean Louis Debre, met the immigrants chief spokesman.
But despite pledging to examine cases individually, Mr Juppe said last night that for those whose situation would not be regularised "the expulsion orders must be applied and will be applied".
The immigrants responded by saying that Mr Juppe's announcement changed nothing.
They say they will end the hunger strike only when the government agrees to "genuine negotiations".
Mr Armand Zvenigorsky, of Youth Against Racism, in Europe, one of many anti racist and left wing groups involved in the campaign, said Mr Juppe's offer was unacceptable.
"From the start we have said and the families have said, that we do not want the government to examine the immigrants' cases individually. We will not allow a situation where the government says there are good immigrants and bad immigrants. The only solution is papers for everybody and we will continue fighting for that."
Meanwhile, a doctor from the charity Medecins du Monde, Dr Bertrand Poitier, who is looking after the hunger strikers said there was now a serious risk of two deaths.