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DJ UPDATE: Indonesia Police Officers Killed At Mine Protest(Comtex Finance Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)JAYAPURA, Indonesia, Mar 16, 2006 (Dow Jones Commodities News Select via Comtex) --(Updates with quotes from police, details) Three policemen were hacked to death Thursday after protesters demanding the closure of a U.S.-owned gold mine in Indonesia's Papua province clashed with security forces, police and witnesses said. Two nearby hospitals reported at least 19 people were injured, many with gunshot wounds. It was the third day of violent protests in Papua against the mine run by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. (FCX). The killings are certain to sharply raise tensions in the region, which is also home to a separatist rebellion. Hundreds of protesters blockaded the road outside a university in the provincial capital demanding the government close the gold mine, said to be the world's largest. Riot police tried to break up the rally with tear gas and baton charges, but the rock-hurling students refused to move. An Associated Press reporter saw two officers being hacked and beaten to death outside the campus. The third met a similar fate, said police Col. Kertono Wangsadisastra. "The killers are no longer human beings," Wangsadisastra said. "They went wild." Freeport's mine is often held up by independence supporters as a symbol of the unfair division of resources between the capital and Papua, while its practice of paying soldiers to guard the facility is also deeply unpopular. There have been several rallies against the gold mine in recent weeks, including one on the road leading to the mine that forced it to temporarily suspend operations, costing the New Orleans-based company millions of dollars. "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 protester Kosmos Yual. Sporadic clashes continued throughout the afternoon, with gun shots repeatedly heard across the city, though it was not clear who was firing. Journalists were ordered away from the scene. Wangsadisastra said at least five people were arrested but that members of the mob who killed the officers had fled into a nearby jungle. Freeport defends its operations in the highlands of Papua, saying it pays millions of dollars in taxes each year and funds scores of community projects close to the mine. Papua's separatist movement has been brutally repressed by Indonesian security forces. Foreign journalists are banned from the region, some 3,700 kilometers east of Jakarta. Unlike Indonesia's mainly Malay inhabitants, Papuans are ethnic Melanesians. Most Indonesians are Muslims, but Papuans are Christians or animists. The eastern part of the island forms Papua New Guinea. (END) Dow Jones Newswires 03-16-06 0422ET |