A Gurkha veteran who has been staging a hunger strike outside Downing Street for more than a week in a protest about pensions was taken to hospital after suffering heart problems.

       Dhan Gurung, who is part of a group of protesters and has not eaten for 11 days, was rushed to hospital in the early hours of Wednesday but was later discharged.

       Gurkhas have been staging a protest in Westminster calling for equal pensions for those who retired before 1997 but are not eligible for a full UK armed forces pension.

       The 60-year-old from Basingstoke has been among them, protesting from his wheelchair in Whitehall, near the gates to Downing Street.

       Yam Gurung, 71, spokesperson for the Gurkhas, said Dhan Gurung had been given a blood pressure monitor and a heartbeat monitor, but warned that he and other Support Our Gurkhas protesters were getting “weaker”.

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       He said: “On Monday, Dhan sent an email to his family in Nepal and said ‘This will be my last email.’

       “I was so worried about him I stayed with him all day. Then the next morning he said he was OK and so I went home.

       “The next thing I hear is he had been rushed to hospital.

       “I was so frightened. He was taken to hospital because his heart is so weak and he is taking medicine but is not eating anything, he’s just having water. He’s getting weaker and weaker.

       “He didn’t want to go to hospital – he said ‘I will die here.’ But we convinced him to go. He told me quietly that his heart can stop any time, so we have got monitors and a medic keeping an eye on his health.”

       He added: “It wasn’t a heart attack, he just has minor problems with his heart. They (all the Gurkhas) are getting weaker.

       “The government must listen. We have done so much. Why are they treating us like illegitimate children? We have done so much for them.

       “We don’t want anybody to die here. Not a single one. We are human beings. I want to ask Boris Johnson, what is your interpretation of human rights? Tell the world. Tell the Gurkhas.”

       The Gurkha protesters, along with other protesters campaigning on separate issues, began shouting at Mr Johnson as he drove past heading to the Commons.

       Shortly after 11am, hundreds of Gurkhas marched past parliament.

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       They were chanting “No justice, no peace” and “What do we want? Justice” as they walked along Parliament Square.

       Additional reporting by PA