Protesters break into COP30 venue in Brazil

Protesters carrying signs reading “our forests are not for sale” broke through security lines of the COP30 climate talks on Tuesday night in Belém, Brazil.

BBC journalists saw United Nations security staff running behind a line of Brazilian soldiers shouting at delegates to immediately leave the venue.

The UN told BBC News that the incident caused minor injuries to two security staff, in addition to limited damage to the venue.

Social media videos showed protesters that appeared to be from indigenous groups and others waving flags with the logo of a left-wing Brazilian youth movement called Juntos.

Protesters, some wearing what appeared to be traditional indigenous dress, stormed the COP30 entrance, chanting and kicking down doors, before tussling with security personnel, videos posted online showed.

Demonstrators crossed the first security barriers of the venue and were then prevented from getting further in, the UN told the BBC.

A security guard said he was hit in the head by a drum thrown by a protester, according to the Reuters news agency.

It is a highly unusual security breach at a conference that has strict protocols.

Brazilian and UN authorities are investigating the incident, according to the UN.

Delegates from almost 200 countries are attending COP30 talks, which officially runs from Monday 10 November to Friday 21 November.

This year’s gathering takes place ten years after the Paris climate agreement, in which countries pledged to try to restrict the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C.

It is the first time the conference is being held in Brazil, with the talks taking place in Belém on the edge of the Amazon rainforest.

The location has proved a controversial decision for a number of reasons, in part due to the Amazon’s residents, many of whom are vocal critics of the environmental damage caused to their home by climate change and deforestation.

Brazil has also continued to grant new licences for oil and gas which, alongside coal, are fossil fuels, the main cause of global warming.

An indigenous leader from the Tupinamba community told Reuters, “we can’t eat money,” and that they were upset about development in the rainforest.

“We want our lands free from agribusiness, oil exploration, illegal miners and illegal loggers,” he said.

The meetings this year have been dubbed “the Indigenous peoples COP”, with Brazilian organisers promising to put indigenous people at the centre of the talks.

Brazil’s Minister of Indigenous Peoples Sonia Guajajara hailed COP30 as “historic” event, and estimated that 3,000 Indigenous peoples from around the world would be in attendance.

A UN report released earlier this year said that Indigenous people safeguard 80% of the planet’s remaining biodiversity – yet receive less than one per cent of international climate funding.

Indigenous peoples are disproportionately impacted by climate change due to their dependence on the natural environment and its resources.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva told the opening of the summit that the world must “defeat” climate denialism and fight fake news.

He said that the decision to hold COP30 in Belém was designed to show that the Amazon is an essential part of the climate solution, adding that “COP30 will be the COP of truth” in an era of “misrepresentation” and “rejection of scientific evidence”.

According to the president, the “most diverse biome on Earth” is home to nearly 50 million people, including 400 Indigenous groups.