Activist hospitalised after 17-day hunger strike outside of Parliament House

Ambulances were called to Parliament House just hours after a climate activist on hunger strike wrote that his body was “starting to eat itself.”

Ambulances arrived before 12 pm. Picture: Supplied.

A former diplomat on hunger-strike has been rushed to hospital after authorities alerted concerns for his health.

Emergency services received a call from AFP officers for support of a male located outside of Parliament House at about 11am on Friday.

It’s understood the individual is 55-year-old Gregory Andrews, a former high-level diplomat who quit his job to stage a hunger strike to protest the federal government’s response to climate change.

Mr Andrews was taken to hospital after going 17 days without food. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Earlier on Friday Mr Andrews posted online that he had lost 10kg since his hunger strike began on November 1.

“My limbs and chest are aching all the time. And the Parliament House nurse who has been visiting me says that’s because my body is starting it eat itself,” the father-of-two wrote.

“My muscles are dissolving. It’s kind of like going to the gym. When you build muscles they ache. And apparently, when they dissolve the same thing happens. To be frank, that freaked me and my family out a bit.”

Paramedics were called after AFP officers rang triple-0. Picture: Supplied.

The former Australian High Commissioner to Ghana previously told NCA NewsWire that he was willing to starve himself “for as long as it takes.”

“I won’t give up. I value my life, but I know I am only one person. Billions of lives are at risk.”

His current condition remains unknown.