A series of protests have erupted in Ecuador over a decision by the South American country’s lawmakers to lift presidential term limits from 2021.

Protesters wielding sticks and spears clashed with riot police in the capital, Quito, after parliament overwhelmingly voted to lift restrictions on the president’s tenure.

Riot police clashed with a group of angry demonstrators a few blocks from the parliament building. Demonstrations also took place in Guayaquil, Ecuador’s most populous city.

Members of the 137-seat National Assembly voted 100-8 to pass the constitutional amendments.

Protesters say the move is an attempt by President Rafael Correa to tighten his grip on power. The new law would bar Correa from running for re-election in the 2017 national polls. However, the socialist leader could become a candidate in 2021.

Correa has censured opposition to the amendments.

“We will continue governing for the common good with total democratic legitimacy… They (the opposition) want us to go back to the old country dominated by the usurpation of popular representation, immobilize us, impede us from governing,” he said.

The incumbent Ecuadorian president is a leftist economist who has been at the helm since 2007. In February 2013, he won an unprecedented third term in an election, and is widely regarded as the country’s most popular leader in recent history.

Much of his popularity is attributed to his government’s huge public spending on the country’s infrastructure, including roads, bridges, as well as education and medical care.