Protesters break into COP30 venue in Brazil

Protesters carrying signs reading “Our forests are not for sale” broke through security lines during the COP30 climate talks on Tuesday evening in Belem, Brazil.

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

The UN told BBC News that the incident left two security personnel with minor injuries and caused limited damage to the venue.

Videos on social media showed protesters, apparently indigenous and other, waving flags bearing the logo of a left-wing Brazilian youth movement called Juntos.

Protesters, some dressed in traditional indigenous clothing, stormed the entrance to COP30, chanting and knocking down doors before scuffling with security officers, as seen in videos posted online.

Demonstrators crossed the first security barriers at the site and were then prevented from proceeding further, the UN told the BBC.

A security guard said he was hit in the head by a drum thrown by a protester, Reuters reported.

This is a highly unusual security breach at a conference where strict protocols are in place.

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

The COP30 negotiations, which officially take place from Monday, November 10 to Friday, November 21, are attended by delegates from nearly 200 countries.

This year's meeting comes ten years after the Paris climate agreement, in which countries pledged to try to limit global temperature rise to 1.5C.

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

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

Brazil also continues issue new oil and gas licenses which, along with 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 the development of the rainforest.

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

This year's meetings have been dubbed the “Indigenous COP,” and Brazilian organizers have vowed to put indigenous peoples at the center of the negotiations.

Brazil's Indigenous Affairs Minister Sonia Guajajara called COP30 a “historic” event and estimated that 3,000 indigenous people from around the world would attend.

A UN report released earlier this year found that indigenous peoples conserve 80% of the planet's remaining biodiversity but receive less than one percent of international climate change funding.

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

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said at the opening of the summit that the world must “defeat” climate denial and fight fake news.

He said the decision to host COP30 in Belem was intended to show that the Amazon is an important part of the climate solution, adding that “COP30 will be a COP of truth” in an era of “distortion of facts” and “rejection of scientific evidence.”

The president said the “most diverse biome on Earth” is home to nearly 50 million people, including 400 indigenous people.