Security forces have used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse thousands of stone-throwing people protesting a potential re-election bid by the president in the Togolese capital Lome.

The sanctioned protests, which were held on Friday, turned violent after security guards tried to stop the protesters who deviated from the route where they planned to hold their gathering, and marched on parliament buildings in the city center.

The protesters were calling on the government to implement term limits which would stop Togo’s President Faure Gnassingbe from taking office for a third term in the 2015 presidential election.

According to a witness, two opposition supporters were injured during the clashes, one of whose ear was torn off.

Presidential term limits were removed from Togo’s constitution in 2002. Lawmakers considered a bill in early 2014 to reintroduce them, but members of the president’s party, who hold a strong majority in the parliament, did not vote in its favor.

Gnassingbe became president with the army’s help when his father Gnassingbe Eyadema, who ruled the West African nation for 38 years, died of a heart attack in 2005.

The Togolese leader resigned under regional pressure, but he won an election in the following months and was re-elected for a second term in 2010.