Around 50,000 people took to the streets of the Nicaraguan capital Managua to protest against President Daniel Ortega's plans to seek reelection.

Last month, the Supreme Court revoked a constitutional clause prohibiting presidential candidates running for office consecutively and banning presidents from serving more than two terms. The ruling allows the Daniel Ortega to run for a third term in office in the 2011 elections.

After a popular revolution overthrew the Somoza dictatorship in 1979, Mr Ortega joined a five-member junta of national reconciliation. He won the 1984 elections and served as president from January 1985 until 1990. He lost the following three elections but won the 2006 presidential poll.

The protesters say that Nicaragua will become a dictatorship if President Ortega remains in power. Several thousand supporters of President Ortega's left-wing Sandinista movement took to the streets in a counter demonstration.
 

Managua authorities deployed around 7000 police officers on the streets of the capital to prevent any violence. The protest passed off peacefully but opponents clashed after the demonstrations had broken up and people were making their way home. Twelve people were injured, three of them police officers.