Jakarta – Indonesian policemen shot at a mob and killed three people on one of the country's far eastern islands on Wednesday after protesters besieged a police office demanding the release of seven detained farmers.

The deputy chief of the East Nusa Tenggara provincial police said the men in detention were caught on Tuesday after rangers spotted them farming at a natural reserve.

"There were around 400 people who attacked our local station before we could even negotiate and the police members were forced to defend themselves," Commissioner Arthur Damanik told Reuters.

"From the protesters' side, three people died, eight were badly injured and 17 others got minor injuries," he said.

Damanik said the protesters damaged the station and one policeman was slashed with a machete.

Illegal farming at natural reserves is rampant across Indonesia where many people struggle to make ends meet amid increasing unemployment in a country that has not fully recovered from the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.