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Dozens of protesters, including members of indigenous communities and young activists, invaded the headquarters of the second day of COP30 negotiations in Belém on Tuesday, demanding climate action and forest protection and clashing with security guards. The protesters shouted angrily, demanding entry to the blue zone of the United Nations climate summit, where thousands of delegates from countries around the world are attending the annual event, which will be held for the first time in the heart of Brazil’s Amazon river.
Some waved flags with slogans demanding land rights and held placards that read “Our land is not for sale.” “We cannot eat money,” Gilmal, an indigenous leader from the Tupinamba community near the lower Tapajos River, told Reuters. “We want our lands free of agribusiness, oil exploration, illegal mining and illegal logging.”
The protesters were quickly stopped by United Nations security personnel, who control security in the area, where some clashes were recorded and entry was cordoned off. At least one security guard was injured.
“We wanted to break into this very place to show which towns should take part in this event,” Helen Christine from Juntos, the youth movement group of the PSOL party, told Amazon’s Media Smauma. He added: “We believe that COP30 does not represent indigenous peoples. This organization is created for businessmen. Oil exploration in the Amazon delta is destroying the environment.”
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