Jayapura – Paramilitary police in Papua pulled people from cars Saturday and beat them, an official said, two days after a mob bludgeoned to death four security officers during protests to demand the closure of a US-owned gold mine in eastern Indonesia.

The mob rampage Thursday that left three police officers and an air force officer dead began when security forces fired tear gas and charged protesters with batons in Jayapura, provincial capital of Papua.

Protesters say the community has seen little benefit from the billions of dollars earned by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., based in New Orleans.

Police have arrested 12 people on charges of murder, assault and destruction of property, said spokesman Col. Kartono Wangsadisastra, who pledged to investigate the incidents involving paramilitary police.

The killing of the four security officers underscored the hatred many Papuans feel for Indonesian soldiers and police. A decades-long separatist rebellion in the remote province has left more than 100,000 dead, many of them civilians who suffered mistreatment, starvation and other consequences of the war.

On Saturday, paramilitary police were deployed in the streets, guarding a road that connects Jayapura to the airport.

Shooting into the air, the security police pulled people out of their cars, kicking and beating them. "We are investigating the incidents and some officers are being questioned," said Wangsadisastra.

He said two journalists were among those attacked, and the paramilitary officers involved were apparently distraught about the deaths of their comrades.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned that people trying to manipulate anger over the mine to win support for independence would not succeed and that the easternmost province would remain part of Indonesia.

Freeport defends its operation in Papua, saying it pays millions of dollars in taxes each year and funds scores of local projects.