More than 200 immigrants have arrived in the Greek capital from the island of Crete to begin a hunger strike demanding to be granted residence papers.

The immigrants, all young men mostly from Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia, are camping on the premises of Athens University's law school, which, by law, is off limits to the police. They say they will begin their hunger strike Tuesday.

Most of the immigrants have been in Greece at least two years, some as many as 10, and are employed in poorly paying manual labor jobs. Some had applied for legal papers but their applications were rejected, they say.

Some 128,000 migrants, mostly from South Asia, entered Greece illegally in 2010, according to official figures.