A GURKHA military veteran who has been on hunger strike outside Downing Street for nearly two weeks was taken to hospital with heart trouble today.

Dhan Gurung is part of a group of protesters calling for equal pensions for Gurkhas who retired before 1997 and are not eligible for a full British armed forces pension.

Mr Gurung, aged 60 and a wheelchair user, was taken to hospital shortly after 1.30am and later discharged.

He had previously told the PA news agency: “We will keep coming back here. We want to continue our hunger [strike] until death. We don’t care about sacrificing our life.”

Support Our Gurkhas spokesman Yam Gurung, aged 71, warned that the protesters are becoming “weaker.”

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

“We are human beings. I want to ask [Prime Minister] Boris Johnson, what is your interpretation of human rights? Tell the world. Tell the Gurkhas.”

Hundreds of Gurkhas marched past Parliament, chanting: “No justice, no peace” and “What do we want? Justice,” before rallying in Parliament Square.

About 200,000 Gurkhas fought in Britain’s armed forces during both world wars.

Those who served from 1948 to 2007 were members of the Gurkha Pension Scheme until Tony Blair’s Labour government eliminated the differences between their terms and conditions of service and those of British veterans.

Serving Gurkhas and those who joined after June 1997 could then opt to transfer to the Armed Forces Pension Scheme.

The policy was brought in after a backdated change to immigration rules meant that more retired Gurkhas were likely to settle in Britain on discharge, whereas the previous pension scheme had lower rates as it had been assumed that they would return to Nepal.