QUITO, Ecuador (AP):

About 20 ousted lawmakers who tried to block leftist President Rafael Correa's plans for a new constitution forced their way into congress, battling riot police and tear gas to take up their seats.

"We are in a dictatorship!" shouted one of the dismissed legislators, opposition Congresswoman Gloria Gallardo.

At least two members of Congress and three other people were injured on Tuesday before the end of the standoff, which also had rival police forces clashing.

Failing to gather a quorum of the 100-member unicameral legislature, the legislators left the building quietly to avoid a crowd of about 200 pro-Correa hecklers outside.

Correa blamed the violence on the ousted lawmakers who were forced out by Ecuador's top electoral court for trying to block a national referendum to rewrite the constitution.

"We are peaceful people. We will keep public order," Correa told Radio Vision. "These people want to create chaos because they know they're already out."

Political power at stake

Raw political power is at stake in this politically unstable Andean nation, with the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government all asserting their supremacy and accusing each other of violating the constitution.

Correa, Ecuador's eighth president in 10 years, is determined to see an April 15 referendum on whether Ecuador should throw out its constitution and write a new charter limiting the power of the traditional political parties he blames for corruption and political instability.