Brazil Indigenous activists storm climate conference
Tropical heat and torrential downpours, shocking climate assessments - and now angry indigenous activists storming the entrance hall: After just two days, the UN Climate Change Conference in the Amazon region already reflects the misery that the escalating climate crisis is plunging the world into, including the host country Brazil. On Tuesday evening (local time), demonstrators kicked down the door to the highly secured UN site, a large crowd of people forced their way in and engaged in a scuffle with security forces.
12.11.2025, 14:32
SDA
According to the news portal G1, at least two security guards were slightly injured and equipment was damaged. There were initially no reports of arrests. The federal police launched an investigation.
Anger directed at multimillionaires and destruction
The demonstrators, many of whom wore colorful feathers, waved flags and chanted, among other things: "Tax the multimillionaires!" and "It's their fault it's so hot!"
A local journalist who witnessed the event told a dpa reporter on site that such an escalation had been a long time coming. In Brazil, environmentalists fighting for the preservation of ancestral habitats in the rainforest have been killed time and again. "This pain has been going on for a long time". By storming the COP30, the indigenous people wanted to make a statement.
After the demonstrators were forced out of the tent city, the entrances were locked and heavily guarded. Normally, the guarded tent city, which even has a tank parked in front of the entrance, is open overnight, as the negotiations sometimes drag on and journalists from all time zones report from the press center.
Previously, there had been a march through the city on the health risks of climate change with around 3,000 participants. Its organizers explicitly distanced themselves from the violent scenes after the end of their demonstration.
Indigenous people also officially represented at the summit
Thousands of representatives of indigenous communities are also officially represented at the climate summit in the Amazon region. They are campaigning against the destruction of their ancestral homeland, for example through the deforestation of the rainforest and the extraction of oil and illegal gold mining.
Awkward questions for the host
The incident raises awkward questions for the host country Brazil and the United Nations before ministers from all over the world arrive for the final phase of the negotiations this weekend: How were the activists able to infiltrate? Why did they feel the need to make their voices heard in this way in the first place? This is likely to continue to occupy the conference.
After a full lockdown with an increased security presence during the night, an unusually large number of volunteers in the service of the Brazilian government greeted the arriving delegates on Wednesday morning (local time), waving in a friendly manner.
Protests possible again in Brazil for the first time
For the first time in four years, the UN Climate Change Conference is being held in a democratic constitutional state, and not in authoritarian countries such as Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Their repressive security authorities had rigorously banned demonstrations and rallies by climate activists. Smaller actions were only possible on the isolated COP site itself, where the United Nations set the rules.
This is now different in Brazil: protests are also possible in urban areas, and the host is actively calling on civil society to get involved. Protests are also planned for the halfway point of the conference at the weekend, flanked by further "climate strikes" around the globe.
The climate protection movement Fridays for Future stated that it could not comment on the specific events. However, it is fundamentally important that civil society groups are able to protest around the climate conference. Indigenous people are often particularly affected by the climate crisis and their habitat is being destroyed by fossil fuel projects. "In many parts of the world, they are oppressed or even murdered because of their resistance." Although the UN conference claims to have all voices at the table, indigenous perspectives are not heard enough.
