There were tussles between protesters and security guards at the Cop30 climate talks late on Tuesday night, when a group of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people stormed the conference centre in Belém.
Several dozen men and women, some in brightly coloured feather headdress, ran through the entrance, pushing at least one door off its hinges, before striding through the metal detectors and entering the Blue Zone.
UN security guards rushed to stop them, leading to grabbing, shoving and yelling. At least one non-Indigenous man in the area was carrying a banner that read “Our forests are not for sale”. Others wore T-shirts saying “Juntos” (Together).
They waved banners and chanted until being forcibly removed.
Local media reported that one security guard was injured. It was unclear how severely.
After the confrontation, the protesters left the venue and uniformed fire brigade officers formed a cordon to block the entrance.
It is not yet clear who was responsible for the intrusion. But at least one observer was impressed: “At last, something has happened here,” said Juan Carlos Monterrey-Gómez, a Panamanian climate negotiator.
Unlike the past three Cops, which were held in countries with varying degrees of authoritarian government, the Brazilian hosts are actively encouraging civil society and street demonstration to play a role in this conference.
Indigenous groups and NGOs have already been more visible inside and outside the venue, helping to balance out the armies of lobbyists that have dominated recent climate gatherings. A “people’s summit” will be held on Thursday and Friday and a global youth rally will take place on Friday, with the biggest demonstration scheduled for Saturday.
Activists have been growing in number over the past week and are already organising up to four events a day, all of which had been peaceful, until now. On Tuesday, there were protests by a feminist collective, pro-Palestine supporters and a health-and-environment group.
Many more activists will arrive tomorrow in a flotilla, estimated at about 100 vessels, led by two of the Amazon rainforest’s most respected Indigenous leaders, Raoni Metuktire and Davi Kopenawa Yanomami.
