The crisis escalated: Gracchus pushed the assembly to impeach and remove Octavius; the Senate denied funds to the commission needed for land reform; Gracchus then tried to use money out of a trust fund left by Attalus III of Pergamum; and the Senate blocked that, too. At one point, Gracchus had "one of his freedmen... drag Octavius from the speaker's platform." This assault violated the "Lex sacrata", which prohibited people of lower status from violating the person of a person of higher class. Rome's unwritten constitution hampered reform. So Gracchus sought re-election to his one-year term, which was unprecedented in an era of strict term limits. The oligarchic nobles responded by murdering Gracchus. Because Gracchus had been highly popular with the poor, and he had been murdered while working on their behalf, mass riots broke out in the city in reaction to the assassination.