Jakarta – One person was killed and four injured when police opened fire to disperse illegal miners occupying a gold mine operated by Australian firm Newcrest, police said Thursday.

Hundreds of people claiming ancestral ownership of the mine on eastern Halmahera island occupied the Toguraci site on Wednesday and accused the company of operating in the area illegally, said local police chief Andi Bambang.

Bambang said police fired warning shots to prevent the crowd from entering the mine and one of the protesters might have been killed by a ricochet from a bullet.

"They are not local people. They were brutal and armed with weapons like spears, machetes and crowbars. Clearly they had no intention to protest peacefully" he told AFP, adding that most of them were illegal miners from North Sulawesi province. He said the other four were injured in the melee but not by bullets.

Police arrested six people they described as provocateurs, including a village chief and a Christian priest. Bambang said police were also looking for 13 people who orchestrated the protest.

Local activist Eton Duan said the shooting was unprovoked. "The crowd did not attack the police," she said. She said police beat one protestor until he lost consciousnes The decision followed years of legal wrangling about the divestment of a 51 percent stake to local investors.