Fight breaks out in Uganda's Parliament with MPs throwing chairs and punches at one another

The Uganda's parliament this afternoon was a scene of action as MPs flexed muscles and threw chairs at one another ahead of a debate on whether to grant long-serving President Yoweri Museveni another term in office. He has been in power for more than three decades.

The move to extend Museveni's rule has met widespread opposition from civic rights activists, the political opposition, religious leaders and even some members of Museveni’s own ruling party.

Government and opposition lawmakers came to blows after the House speaker allowed a ruling party legislator to introduce a motion to kick-start a process to remove an age cap from Uganda’s constitution to allow Museveni to run for re-election.

Under the existing constitution, a person standing for President must be under 75 years of age - which would make Museveni, 73, ineligible to stand at the next polls in 2021.