BARCELONA Hundreds of illegal immigrants on hunger strike inside churches in Barcelona have called off their protest against tough Spanish immigration laws, after reaching a compromise with the government, AFP said.

A spokesman for the group of about 700 said Saturday they had ended their protest against tough new immigration laws, started on January 21, but were continuing their occupation of the eight churches.

They made the decision after the government promised them a "favorable solution" for the majority of the applications rejected in July 2000.

A government spokesman said they had asked the protestors to end their occupation of the churches before beginning any review of their cases.

Eduard Plannells, director of the Barcelona immigration office, said the claims of those who have taken part in the hunger strike would be treated no differently from other applications.

But he warned that they would have to respect the outcome of the legal process.

The new law, which came into effect on January 23, reintroduces a procedure that allows for the immediate expulsion of immigrants living in Spain without proper papers.

That affects 34,000 immigrants who unsuccessfully applied for residency or work permits last year.

The changes prompted 265 immigrants camped out in a Barcelona church to go on hunger strike. They were joined by similar actions in other churches in the city and elsewhere in Spain.

Spain is host to about 940,000 immigrants -- around 2.5 percent of the population -- with proper papers. About 200,000 however, have no legal documents.

Most are from Ecuador and Colombia but also from Pakistan, Russia, India and Morocco.