LIVERPOOL, England Ten asylum seekers have gone on hunger strike in Liverpool, northwest England to protest what they said was their "barbaric treatment" by the authorities, AFP quoted a police spokesman as saying.

Their three-day-old protest once again shines the spotlight on Britain's overstretched system for dealing with asylum seekers.

The hunger strikers said they wanted to highlight long delays in processing their asylum applications and the "appalling conditions" in the tower blocks in which they have been housed.

A spokesman for the protesters said: "We came to this country to seek refuge from persecution. Instead we have been treated like animals. There are two people on hunger strike who are recovering from operations."

"They are prepared to risk their health because they do not believe anything will change any other way," he added.

A spokesman for Merseyside police confirmed the hunger strike was still going on but said he was unable to reveal the nationality of the protesters.

Britain's Interior Ministry pays for the asylum seekers to be billeted in two privately owned tower blocks in the Everton Valley area of Liverpool that were sold off by the local authority.

Concerns about the suitability of the accommodation have been raised several times in recent months.