Punches were traded and chairs thrown after a brawl broke out in Uganda's parliament as MPs debated the controversial removal of the presidential age limit.

MPs exchanged blows and kicks, with some using microphone stands as crude weapons in the melee, which saw two female lawmakers carried out of the chamber after collapsing.

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Tempers flared on Wednesday (27 September) after it was alleged an MP had brought a gun into the chamber, the speaker ordered a search but no firearm was found. The incident lasted around 20 minutes, and was the second day of fighting over this matter.

The age limit issue is controversial because long-serving President Yoweri Museveni is 73-years-old and the maximum age for re-election is capped at 75.

Museveni has been in power since 1986 and is increasingly accused of being an autocrat while failing to curb corruption in the East African state.

The current constitutional age limit would prevent him from standing for a sixth term in the 2021 elections. A previous two-term limit was scrapped in 2005 to allow President Museveni to stand for a third term.

Uganda Communications Commission fired off a warning to radio and television stations not to show live broadcasts that would "promote a culture of violence ... and are likely to create public insecurity".

No broadcaster aired the brawl, but some posted clips of the incident on their Twitter feeds.

The fracas in the Ugandan chamber is part of a long line of bust-ups in parliaments across the world captured on TV in recent years.

Fights in the House: Hair-pulling and water balloons

In February, fighting broke out in South Africa's legislature during President Jacob Zuma's state-of-the-nation speech after the Economic Freedom Fighters party battled with security staff.

The far-left party constantly interrupted Zuma's speech, protesting at the series of scandals the President was mired in. The county's main opposition party also walked out in protest at the conduct of the African National Congress leader, before security personnel tried to restore order.

Fights in Taiwan's legislature are common and two days of brawling broke out in July as opposition lawmakers criticised an infrastructure plan put forward by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, led by President Tsai Ing-wen.

Taiwan's voters saw their politicians punching and pulling each other's hair. They also threw water balloons at rivals.

In 2015 an MP sparked a brawl in the Ukrainian parliament when he handed the prime minister a bunch of red roses and then tried to forcibly remove him from his podium by hoisting him up by the crotch.

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk was defending the record of his People's Front government in an annual statement. But when he appeared to blame an energy crisis on the rival Poroshenko Bloc party, one of its MPs, Oleh Barna, lifted him from the lectern, sparking the fracas as members of both parties rushed to protect their man.

Uganda