LONDON, March 19 (UPI) -- About 50 retired Gurkha soldiers handed back medals they had earned during their service as a protest of perceived discrimination by the British government.
About 2,000 other Gurkhas watched outside Parliament in London in support of the protest over pensions and the right of Gurkha veterans to live in England.
The Gurkha homeland is in Nepal and northern India; however they have a 200-year history of serving in the British army. Many Gurkhas have made the military their career and boast recent combat service in Iraq, Bosnia and the Falklands.
The Daily Telegraph said Gurkha veterans receive a pension that is a fraction of what former British soldiers receive even after a 19-percent increase last year.
The newspaper said the protest received a sympathetic response from Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg, who called the situation "a disgrace."
