Dili – About 50 East Timorese staged a non-violent protest Monday against Indonesian rule of their territory, a day after hundreds of demonstrators clashed with police during a visit by a U.N. investigator.

There were no arrests at the protest, in a marketplace, which dispersed after about 30 minutes, said the local police chief, Col. Jusuf Muharam.

Security forces fought Sunday with about 200 people who tried to present protests to Jamsheed Marker, a U.N. envoy investigating unrest in the former Portuguese colony that Indonesia invaded in 1975.

Muharam denied Monday that anyone had been killed, contradicting a security official who told The Associated Press on Sunday that two people were dead.

'There are no casualties. Only 38 people were injured and we have released three of the 48 people arrested,' he said.

Marker left the territory Monday, expressing regret over the incident.

'We must find a better alternative to solve the problem and certainly not through violence,' the Pakistani diplomat told reporters at the airport in Dili, the East Timorese capital.

Marker said that during his three-day visit, he had met with East Timor Gov. Abilio Soares, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Bishop Carlos Belo and other officials.

'We talked about the situation in East Timor, the need of the people and their problems,' Belo told reporters.

Belo is a prominent critic of the Indonesian government and military, which has often been accused of human rights abuses in the territory.

The U.N. still regards Portugal as the territory's administering power.