Thousands of activists and indigenous people gathered today in a march in Belém to draw the attention of COP30 negotiators, gathered in this city in the Brazilian Amazon, to hear their demands in defense of the climate.
At the beginning of the demonstration, a giant balloon, shaped like the globe, attracted attention in what was a festive march, with music, near the market in the city that hosts the UN climate conference, from Monday until the 21st.
“We came here to defend the climate. Today, we witnessed a massacre, with the destruction of our forest. We want our voices to be heard and understood in the Amazon and we demand results”, one of the participants from the Huni Kuin indigenous people, from western Brazil, Benedito, aged 50, told the AFP news agency.
Protesters began arriving in the early hours of the day, under an already scorching sun. Some of them unfolded a large Brazilian flag that read: “Protected Amazon”.
The “world march for climate” will cross the dense city, with 1.4 million inhabitants, on a route of approximately four and a half kilometers, with a scheduled stop a few blocks from the location where COP30 is taking place.
The UN conference is protected by dozens of soldiers and barriers, some with barbed wire.
For the first time since COP26, in 2021, in Glasgow, Scotland, civil society can express themselves freely and without fear of being subject to arbitrary arrests.
The last three UN climate conferences took place in Egypt, Dubai and Azerbaijan, countries where no non-governmental organization (NGO) considered it safe to demonstrate outside the COP venue, which is protected and administered by the United Nations.
The negotiations taking place in Belém are being marked by the absence of the United States of America (USA).
At today’s protest, a protester riding on stilts and dressed as “Uncle Sam” denounced “imperialism.” Support for the Palestinian cause was also present, with flags waved among the thousands of protesters.
“We are here to show that the power is in the hands of the people, especially this week when we discovered that voices were excluded from the COP process and that many communities, particularly indigenous ones, feel ignored,” British Tyrone Scott, 34, from the NGO War on Want, told AFP.
Brazilian indigenous communities demand to have a voice and greater participation in discussions that have already been interrupted twice by protesters.
The first was on Tuesday night, when they invaded the COP site and clashed with security forces. The second was on Friday morning, when other indigenous protesters blocked the main entrance to force high-level meetings with Brazilian authorities.
Brazilian authorities significantly reinforced security this week at Parque da Cidade, the venue for the event, in an effort to avoid disturbances.