Protesters killed four security officers after clashes broke out Thursday during a rally demanding the closure of a U.S.-owned gold mine in Papua. The officers were either hacked or burned to death, police and witnesses said, according to AP. It was the third day of violent protests against the mine run by Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. The killings are certain to sharply raise tensions in the region, which is also home to a separatist rebellion. «The killers are no longer human beings,» said police spokesman Col. Kertono Wangsadisastra, adding that dozens of people were injured in the melee. «They went wild.» Hundreds of protesters blockaded the road outside a university in the provincial capital Thursday 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.
