Jakarta – Armed police clashed with rock-throwing demonstrators during a protest against the world's largest gold and copper mine in Indonesia's Papua province leaving up to five people dead and many more injured, police and witnesses said.
The bloodshed occurred outside the state-run university in the provincial capital Jayapura amid ongoing protests against the operator of the mine, US giant Freeport-McMoRan.
Papua police spokesman Kartono Wangsadisastra told AFP three police officers were killed including two who were burned alive, while 19 officers and a journalist from the weekly Tempo magazine were seriously injured.
He said police had fired warning shots and tear gas in a bid to push back the crowd after protesters started pelting police with rocks, but he denied reports two protesters had been killed.
However Aloy Renwarin of the Papua-based Elsham human rights group told AFP he saw two Papuans killed and five others wounded when police opened fire on the crowd of around 150 protesters. "I saw with my own eyes five people wounded and two others shot dead.
The shootings are still taking place, the situation is still grave," he told AFP by telephone from Jayapura as he organised his staff to help the wounded.
A spokesman for the state-run Abepura hospital in Jayapura said at least eight wounded policemen were being treated at the establishment and more were expected.
Thursday's protest was just the latest unrest linked to the controversial mine, which provides one of the top sources of revenue for Indonesia's government.
A new round of protests flared last month after Freeport security forces tried to evict local miners, who prospect among the mine's waste, alleging their activity was illegal.
Some 500 then blocked the road to the mine, forcing its closure for four days.
The dispute was resolved when Freeport agreed to allow the miners to resume their work, but it triggered rowdy demonstrations in the capital Jakarta, Jayapura and elsewhere.
The police spokesman said the protesters, who included students from Cendrawasih University, had been blocking the main road outside the campus for two days and nights.
National police chief Sutanto said there was no need to send reinforcements to Jayapura, which is around 3,500 kilometres (2,200 miles) east of the capital Jakarta. "We regret this happened," Sutanto told reporters, calling on the protesters to refrain from "anarchy".
The protestors accused Freeport of not giving enough to the people of Papua in return for the mine, creating environmental pollution and being responsible for human rights abuses through their use of the military to protect the mine.
Its payments to the military for security have been under intense scrutiny in recent months amid allegations that they amounted to corruption, while the environment ministry is investigating pollution allegations against them.
International media are banned from travelling freely in easternmost Papua, where a simmering separatist conflict persists.
The Papuan provincial parliament has announced that it will hold a special session this month to discuss the mine. It does not have the power to close the mine but could apply pressure to the Indonesian government to do so. Freeport signed a 30-year contract with Jakarta to run the mine in 1991.