Jakarta – Two people were injured as thousands of farmers in the Indonesian province of West Sumatra protested against a palm oil plantation firm which they said had polluted a local river, sources there said Sunday.

"There were thousands of them, children, youth, the elderly, men and women who came armed with knives and machetes," the source said from the West Sumatra provincial capital of Padang.

The farmers on Saturday attempted to protest at the base camp of PT Tri Agro Adhiniaga (TAAN) at the Limapuluh Kota district to demand that the company halt the pollution of the Batang Mangilang river. The villagers attempted to attack the base camp but were repulsed by the company security guards who were backed by about 35 soldiers from a local battallion, the source said. Warning shots were fired by some of the soldiers, who had been put on standby at the company since protest against the firm began last month.

One man, identified as Eka, 22 from the Mangilang village, was run over by a truck carrying employees of the company trying to flee the attack, the source said, adding that Eka was rushed to the hospital in Bukittinggi. A second man, identified as Icen, 23, also from Mangilang village, was slashed with a machete by one of the company guards during a scuffle that broke out between the villagers and the company security guards, the source added. The mob disbanded after Icen was rushed to the same hospital as Eka in Bukittinggi.

The villagers were angered by the pollution of the river following the felling of forests by TAAN. The company had dumped the waste from the felling into the river and villagers, who rely on the river for their daily water needs, have been complaining of serious skin irritation. The villagers have demanded that TAAN halt its operation. Angry villages last month attacked the base camp, damaging and burning vehicles and a few buildings there, prompting the deployment of the soldiers.