3 killed as protests rage over gold mine

JAYAPURA, Indonesia Three police officers 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, the police and witnesses said. Two nearby hospitals reported at least 19 people wounded, many with gunshot wounds. It was the third day of violent protests in Papua against the mine run by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold. 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 that the government close the gold mine, one of 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. A reporter saw two officers being hacked and beaten to death outside the campus. The third met a similar fate, said a police colonel, 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, and the company's 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. Sporadic clashes continued throughout the afternoon, with gunshots repeatedly heard across the city, though it was not clear who was firing. Journalists were ordered away from the scene. Wangsadisastra said that at least five people had been 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.