Jayapura – Protesters beat three police officers to death Thursday during a violent demonstration to demand the closure of a US-owned gold mine in Indonesia's Papua province, police and witnesses said. At least 19 people were injured in clashes.

Two members of the police paramilitary unit and a regular officer were killed, said Col. Kertono Wangsadisastra.

An Associated Press reporter saw protesters corner two of the officers and beat them with sticks and stones while hundreds demonstrated near a major university in the provincial capital of Jayapura.

Police fired tear gas, wielded batons and chased and attacked several protesters, who threw stones at the approaching officers, an Associated Press reporter at the scene said. At least 19 people were injured, many with gunshot wounds, two hospitals reported.

It was the third day of violent protests against the mine run by the New Orleans-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. "We want Freeport to close because it has not given any benefits to the people of Papua. In fact it's made them suffer," said Kosmos Yual, one of more than 200 protesters.

There have been several rallies in recent weeks against the gold mine – said to be the world's largest – both in Papua and in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

Freeport, which pays millions of dollars in taxes and funds scores of community projects close to the mine in central Papua, was forced to temporarily shut the facility last month after demonstrators blockaded it.

Papua is home to a popular separatist movement that has been brutally repressed by Indonesian security forces. The mine is often held up by independence supporters as a symbol of the unfair division of resources between the capital and Papua.