Dozens of indigenous activists stormed the secure tent city of the UN climate conference in Brazil.
November 12, 2025, 04:06November 12, 2025, 04:10
Videos from South American media showed how they violently broke open a door and fought with security forces on Tuesday evening (local time).
The activists scuffled with security guards.Image: keystone
Instagram videos from several activists showed a large crowd of demonstrators waving flags and protesting in the hallways of the conference center. BBC reporters say they observed UN security personnel shouting at delegates still present to leave the site.
A local journalist who followed what was happening on the site and wanted to remain anonymous for security reasons told a dpa reporter on site that such an escalation had been in the offing for a long time. In Brazil, environmentalists are repeatedly being killed; “this pain has been around for a long time.” The indigenous people wanted to make a statement with the intrusion.
Thousands of representatives of indigenous communities are also represented at the climate summit in the Amazon region. They campaign against the destruction of their ancestral homeland, for example through the deforestation of the rainforest. There had previously been a march through the city on the health dangers of climate change with around 3,000 participants.
Their organizers expressly distanced themselves from the violent scenes after the end of their demonstration. “The actions that took place after the march are not part of the organization of the event,” said the organization involved, 350.org. According to the Brazilian news portal “G1”, two security guards are said to have been injured, and a video shows one security guard bleeding from his forehead.
Videos on social media also showed security forces barricading the area from the inside with tables – but they were unable to prevent the intrusion.
When the security forces finally had the situation under control again, the area was completely evacuated and cordoned off. A number of cleaning staff sat outside the gates in the evening. Normally the guarded tent city, which even has a large tank set up in front of the entrance, is also open overnight because the negotiations sometimes drag on and journalists from all time zones report from the press center.
By late evening (local time) the situation had calmed down again. The entrances to the COP site remained closed, and masked soldiers and other security forces set up in front of them. Several police cars were parked in front of the gates with their lights flashing. On the site itself, security responsibility lies with the UN police.
For hosts Brazil and the United Nations, the incident raises unpleasant questions a few days before ministers from all over the world arrive for the final phase of the negotiations: How were the activists able to get in? Why did they even feel like they had to make their voices heard this way? This is likely to keep the conference busy.
The conference management announced late in the evening that the main entrance would be repaired after the events and reopened from 7 a.m. (local time, 11 a.m. CET) on Wednesday.
For the first time in years, the UN climate conference is taking place in a democratic constitutional state, and not, as recently, 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 and only tolerated them on the isolated COP site itself.
Things are now different in Brazil: protests are also possible in urban areas. Protests are also planned at halftime of the conference at the weekend, flanked by further “climate strikes” around the globe. (sda/dpa)