Protesters vandalize building housing offices of Freeport mining

Students angry at U.S. gold mining giant Freeport attacked the building housing its offices in Jakarta on Thursday, as the company's mine in Papua province remained shut for a second day due to protests.

Up to 20 Papuan students broke windows and damaged facilities in the lobby of the building in the pre-dawn attack, said National Police chief Gen. Sutanto, adding that 13 people have since been arrested over the violence.

Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. was forced to shut its massive mine in Papua on Wednesday after locals - some of them carrying bow and arrows - set up barricades and demanded permission to sift through waste ore pumped out by the gold and copper mine.

The blockades followed clashes on the road Tuesday that left six people injured.

The company said it hoped to resume operations soon, but the mine remained close Thursday, according to AP.

Meanwhile, Negotiations with alleged illegal miners staging a blockade near a massive gold and copper mine in Indonesia's remote Papua entered a second day Thursday, police and a company official said.

Freeport Indonesia spokesman Siddharta Moersjid told AFP the situation was unchanged from Tuesday and the mine remained shut.

"Today's (Thursday's) dialogue is actually a continuation from yesterday. It is part of our efforts to get the situation to return to normal so that we can all return to work," he said.

The miners have been demanding that they be permitted to continue prospecting through the waste tailings produced by the mine.

Papua police spokesman Kartono Wangsadisastra confirmed the blockade was still in place, but he declined to say how many people were still at the site, which was blocked to the public onWednesday.

He said talks were being held between representatives of the protesters and Freeport officials.

Kartono said on Wednesday that the protesters were demanding to meet with Freeport's US-based head, Jim Bob Moffett, as well as with the mayor of Timika -- the nearest major town -- who was not currently there.

The stand-off is the latest snag in Indonesia for Freeport-McMoRan, which has been under scrutiny for making payments to Indonesia's military to provide security.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Wednesday directed the energy minister, Purnomo Yusgiantoro, to coordinate with the security minister to resolve the dispute, fearing a loss of national income if the mine stays shut.(*)