Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Indonesian police on Monday forcibly evicted 100 Middle Eastern asylum seekers, some of them screaming hysterically, who had been holed up at the UN refugee agency's office in Jakarta since late last week.

Police had to either drag or carry many of the refugees out of the building's foyer in central Jakarta where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has its office.

The asylum seekers, some of whom claimed to have legal refugee status, had been camped out there since Friday. Female refugees wearing traditional flowing Muslim robes chanted "God is Greatest!" while their children cried. Some of the asylum seekers lay down on the sidewalk after being evicted.

"Some of these people tried to force entry to the premises of the UNHCR so we asked the police to provide the necessary protection," Raymond Hall, regional representative of the UNHCR, told Reuters. "But we made it clear to the police we did not want any violence used on these people. Reinforcement arrived just in time to prevent the incident turning nasty," he said.

Thousands of Middle Eastern asylum seekers use Indonesia as a staging post to try to enter Australia illegally each year. Others wait years to get refugee status from the UN agency but then endure more delays until a recipient country accepts them.

Only 63 immigrants have been accepted for resettlement this year out of 450 that have been granted formal refugee status.