Source: The Jakarta Globe

Police shot a protester dead as they clashed with more than a thousand striking workers on Monday at a mine run by US company Freeport McMoran in Indonesia’s Papua region, a union official said.

“A protester was killed from a gunshot fired by police,”

said Virgo Solossa, an official for the mine workers’ union.

All-Indonesian Workers Trade Union (SPSI) representative Sudiro told the Jakarta Globe that three other miners had been critically wounded.

Freeport are yet to comment.

At least six policemen were injured in the violence at the sprawling Grasberg complex, one of the world’s biggest gold and copper mines, Papua police spokesman Wachyono said.

A doctor at the Mimika district government hospital confirmed that one person was killed by a gunshot.

“One person died from a gunshot wound to the chest,”

said Dr Hery, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name.

The clash erupted when police tried to stop more than 1,000 workers, who began their strike on September 15, from entering a facility at the mining complex, Solossa said.

“So far, five policemen suffered head injuries and another had his leg injured from being pelted with stones by workers. They have been taken to hospital,”

Wachyono told AFP.

Police fired warning shots into the air after the striking workers pelted them with stones, Wachyono said, in scenes witnessed by an AFP reporter at the site.

The workers, who are mostly indigenous Melanesians, are demanding that their current minimum wage of $1.50 an hour be raised to $12.50.