Jayapura – A day after dozens of people were injured in a clash between police and demonstrators, hundreds of protesters demanding independence for Irian Jaya rallied Friday at the site of the violence.

The official Antara news agency said several hundred people had gathered at a church in Timika, a town near the US-owned Grasberg mine in the western half of New Guinea island.

But John Rumbiak, spokesman for the Institute for Human Rights and Advocacy in the provincial capital Jayapura, put the number at 3,000. He said protesters were refusing to leave until the Indonesian government acknowledged their claims to independence. "The people are shocked, angry and want change," Rumbiak said.

Human rights activists said 56 people were injured Thursday when police opened fire to disperse about 2,000 demonstrators who were preventing them from lowering a rebel flag flying in the church courtyard.

Police have acknowledged they fired shots into the air but said nobody was hit. Instead, police said, dozens of people were trampled when the crowd panicked and fled from the compound.