Hundreds of Indigenous protesters stormed the COP30 climate summit venue in the Amazonian city of Belém on Tuesday evening, clashing with security forces as they denounced environmental destruction and exclusion from decision making at the UN talks.
The demonstrators, many carrying banners and batons, forced their way through security barriers around 7:10pm local time, briefly breaching the main entrance before guards regrouped to form a human chain to push them back.
Soon after the clash the venue has been closed and people were evacutted.
Correspondents of The Climate Watch witnessed the incident. The Climate Watch correspondents witnessed security guard were injured during the confrontation. “We are dying because of environmental destruction, yet our voices are not being heard in COP30,” said a leader from the Munduruku people, who live along the Tapajós River in the Brazilian Amazon.
“This COP is for white people to enter the Amazon, not for us. Our people are starving, without health care or education, while millions are being spent to build this city for outsiders.”
The protests underscored rising tensions at the two-week UN climate summit, which is being held for the first time in the heart of the Amazon rainforest.
Indigenous groups have accused the organizers of sidelining local communities while highlighting Brazil’s environmental leadership on the global stage.
Jacob Jhond, a U.S.-based Indigenous activist, joined the protest and told TCW: “This is not a people’s COP. Nothing about Indigenous rights is being discussed here.”
Security forces eventually dispersed the crowd and restored control at the entrance, which had been barricaded with tables and fencing. The dramatic scenes came as world leaders, negotiators and civil society groups met to advance talks on climate finance, deforestation and loss and damage, issues that Indigenous communities say directly affect their survival.
“People from the Amazon have been fighting to protect this land for centuries,” said another protester. “Yet we remain invisible in these global conversations.”
No immediate comment was available from COP30 organizers or the Brazilian environment ministry regarding the incident.
UNFCCC secretariat in mail at local time 11pm said “Following the incident at the main entrance of the COP30 venue earlier this evening, the main entrance to the venue is currently undergoing repair and will re-open at 7.00 on Wednesday 12 November.”
