Asylum seekers threaten to jump in base standoff

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Eight asylum seekers remained barricaded on a roof at a British base in Cyprus for a second day on Thursday, threatening to jump unless they got British passports.

The seven Iraqis and one Iranian scaled onto a 14-metre (45 ft) training tower in the western sovereign base of Episkopi on Wednesday. They were thought to have water and food supplies for several days.

"They do not have any right to a British passport," a spokesman for the military bases said.

Authorities would not force the men down, the spokesman said. "It would endanger them and us," he said.

The asylum seekers, all well built males wearing thick coats and hats, had unfurled a large banner hanging over the tower which read "We demand the British Passport".

The men had entered British sovereign territory in Cyprus between 2001 and 2003 via Turkish held northern Cyprus, an unrecognised Turkish Cypriot state.

Britain's border and immigration service had assessed their applications which were recently rejected.

Britain has two military bases in Cyprus. The Mediterranean island was a British colony until 1960.

Many areas of the bases, known as Sovereign Base Areas, are publicly accessible, with only few areas out of bounds for non military.

(Reporting by Michele Kambas, editing by Ibon Villelabeitia)