Dozens of indigenous activists stormed the tent city hosting the UN climate conference in Brazil. Videos from South American media showed how they violently broke down doors and fought with security forces on Tuesday evening (local time).
Thousands of indigenous activists were also represented at the World Climate Conference in the city of Belem. They campaign against the destruction of their ancestral homelands, for example through deforestation of the rainforest.
BBC journalists said they saw UN security personnel running behind a line of Brazilian soldiers and shouting at delegates to leave. An activist’s Instagram video showed a large crowd of Indigenous people waving flags and protesting in the conference center’s hallways.
Maria Clara from the Rede Sustentabilidade Bahia association told the AFP news agency that she wanted to draw attention to the situation of indigenous people. “These voices are being ignored,” he said.
By late afternoon (local time) the situation had returned to calm. The entrance to the COP location is closed and tightly guarded by security forces. At the COP site itself, responsibility for security lies with the UN police.
More protests are expected this weekend
For the first time in recent years, the UN climate conference was held in a constitutionally democratic country, and not in authoritarian states such as Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt as was the case recently. Their repressive security authorities have strictly prohibited demonstrations and rallies by climate activists and only tolerate them at isolated COP locations.
Now things are different in Brazil: protests are also possible in urban areas. Protests are also planned at halftime of the conference at the weekend, accompanied by further “climate strikes” around the world.
