Asylum seekers across Belgium have occupied 11 churches and a mosque in protest at government plans to reform asylum procedures

BBC News:

A draft law making it more difficult for immigrants to get work permits is due to be presented to parliament.

Hundreds of asylum seekers joined a protest march outside the parliament building in Brussels on Friday.

The "sans-papiers", as they are known, want the authorities to abandon the plans and let them stay in Belgium.

One asylum seeker taking part in the occupation of a church in Ghent told the BBC: "I want them to accept my documents.

"It is not normal to sleep here with my husband and my children. I want them to accept my papers so I can work."

The BBC's Alix Kroeger says many of the asylum seekers have been waiting for years for their cases to be heard.

Daniel Kokombo, spokesman for the sans-papiers (without papers), said the conditions for those seeking sanctuary in the holy buildings were horrible.

In one church there is a kitchen, a rota for showers and mattresses are dragged out at night for people to sleep on.

"If the minister gives us asylum today or tomorrow we will leave it because we cannot live here," said Mr Kokombo.

Immigrants occupying one church recently called off a hunger strike they were holding in protest.

Some individual pastors are sympathetic to the occupations, but the Church hierarchy says it is as much a political issue as a human one.

Eric de Beukelaer, spokesman for the Belgium Bishops' Conference, says the Church is caught in the middle.

"We are in full solidarity with those who are staying for a long time in Belgium who are just waiting here without any security for themselves or their children," he said.

"On the other hand we have no magical solution. It is up to the parliament to find the best solution if there is one."

Demand for end to 'arbitrary' asylum policy

730 protestors occupying Ghent church