Indonesian marines shot and killed at least three people on Wednesday during a protest over a land dispute on the main island of Java, a local official said.
Marines started shooting after hundreds of residents from Pasuruan town in east Java gathered to try to stop redevelopment of land at the centre of a bitter court dispute with the navy, the official said.
Residents were blocking a road leading to the land and became increasingly angry although it was unclear what prompted navy marines to start shooting, said official Muzammil Syafii.
”So far, we have three confirmed dead, all with gunshot wounds,” he said.
”Eight others were injured, most with bullet wounds, but one has since been released from hospital and the seven others are still undergoing treatment.”
One man and two women were killed, he said.
OkeZone news portal reported four people were killed, although this could not be immediately confirmed.
Television pictures showed chaotic scenes of bleeding residents, mainly women, being carried on to the back of a truck to hospital.
Children were among the crowd screaming and crying, Metro TV showed.
”There is a child about three years old injured,” local police chief Boy Rafli Amar said.
About 40 marines opened fired on the residents but then fled the area, one witness said. ”They ran away after the crowd became bigger,” witness Solihin told ElShinta radio.
”People were gathering on the road, it was easy to shoot them,” another witness Kurois said.
”The first to fall was Ustam,” he told ElShinta radio, referring to the man who was killed.
He said most of the crowd fled when the marines started shooting although some also pelted them with stones.
”Some fought back with stones; there was one [marine] hit,” he said.
Navy Marine Commander Safzen Nordin said earlier that it appeared the shooting started when residents began throwing stones at the marines. He added that details of the incident were still unclear.
”We are investigating the incident,” he told Metro TV. — AFP
