Nethy Dharma Somba, Jayapura – Unidentified security officers opened fire on a group of protesters outside a police station in Paniai regency in restive Papua province on Friday, killing one person and injuring two others, a police spokesman said.

Paniai Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Anton Diance said that the clash occurred after three people arrived at the station to complain about an earlier refusal by the local Wagete Police chief to sign their request to allow them to ask for money from passing motorists, he said.

In their request they asked the police chief to sign a circular, obliging truck drivers to pay Rp 100,000 (US$10.5) each time they passed by a section of damaged road that the protesters claimed had been repaired by local residents, Anton said.

Other rates for lighter vehicles were set at Rp 75,000, public vans and buses at Rp 50,000 and motorcycle taxis at Rp 20,000, he said. Anton said that soon after the refusal, around 100 other people gathered at the station, located near the city's military post. "The civilians got angry and started beating Second Insp. Ronald Tumana, one of the police officers," Anton said. "Then the shooting occurred."

Resentment runs high against Indonesian troops in Papua province, where human rights groups estimate some 100,000 people have been killed in years of resistance to Jakarta's rule there. Police and soldiers have been repeatedly accused of abuses by local and international rights groups in the oil and gas rich region in the country's far east.

Anton identified the deceased as Mozes Douw, 15, while Yolice Kotokil, 18, and Petrus Pekey, 19, were injured. Anton said that Mozes died in the hospital after being shot in the chest, Yuli was shot in her right thigh and Petrus was shot in the chest.

Mozes' body was laid out at the Wagete military district headquarters, while the wounded victims were admitted to a Nabire hospital for medical treatment.