East Timor Violence Erupts Again : Indonesia: Troops rush students demonstrating against treatment of Catholics in disputed territory. Incident poses a problem for Clinton, who is due to visit archipelago.

In the worst violence in three years on Indonesia’s disputed territory of East Timor, club-wielding troops Thursday charged into demonstrating students near the province’s university. At least eight students were hospitalized, and there was one report that three others were killed.

The incident seemed certain to increase tensions with the United States over human rights violations in the sprawling archipelago. Only last week, Washington denounced the Indonesian government’s arrest of 42 students protesting its closure of three popular news weeklies.

The violence also comes at an awkward time for President Clinton, who is scheduled to visit Indonesia in just four months to attend the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group, which is being hosted this year by Indonesia’s President Suharto.

News reports from East Timor said anti-riot troops clashed with the students when they tried to march from the university campus in the provincial capital, Dili, to the nearby Parliament building.

The students were protesting the alleged harassment of Roman Catholics in East Timor. A former Portuguese colony, East Timor was annexed by Indonesia in 1976, but the United Nations has never recognized the move. East Timor is mostly Catholic, while most Indonesians, including the troops stationed on the island, are Muslim.

News reports of Thursday’s incident were sketchy. The Associated Press reported from Dili that three people were killed and 30 were injured; Reuters news service said 20 people were injured and there were no fatalities. Agence France-Presse reported eight people were slightly injured.

Despite these differences, news reports agreed the violence was the worst in East Timor since a massacre of civilians by government troops at a Nov. 12, 1991, funeral march. The government later acknowledged that 50 people were killed in that attack, while human rights activists put the death toll as high as 180.

Thursday’s student march appeared to have been sparked by an incident June 28 when two Indonesian soldiers were accused of desecrating Communion wafers at a small church in Remexio, a town south of Dili.

The marchers carried banners saying “Long Live the Catholic Church” and “Indonesia Is Not a State Based on Religion.”

When marchers attempted to fan out from the campus, troops moved in and dispersed them, according to reports from the island. By nightfall Thursday, the protesters had dispersed.

Although the government in Jakarta said it was taking steps to defuse the remaining tension in East Timor, it remains highly sensitive to outside criticism on this topic.

When private groups tried to sponsor a conference in Manila on the subject a month ago, Indonesia caused a diplomatic incident and forced the Philippine government to turn away foreigners--including the wife of French President Francois Mitterrand--attending the session.

In recent weeks, the government seems to have reversed a trend toward liberalization, which had quietly taken place over the past two years. The end was firmly announced when the government withdrew licenses for the country’s three most popular news weeklies after they carried articles critical of government policies and ministers.

After the 1991 violence in East Timor, the U.S. government cut off military training assistance to the Indonesian army.