Thousands of climate activists, including indigenous groups and youth leaders, staged a massive 4-kilometer protest in Belem, Brazil, during the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit. Demonstrators, some symbolizing a funeral for fossil fuels or the blood of environmental protectors, marched to pressure world leaders for more humanized decisions and environmental protection, enjoying a rare freedom to demonstrate openly.
BELEM, Brazil (AP) — Some wore black dresses to signify a funeral for fossil fuels. Hundreds wore red shirts, symbolizing the blood of colleagues fighting to protect the environment. And others chanted, waved huge flags or held up signs Saturday in what’s traditionally the biggest day of protest at the halfway point of annual United Nations climate talks. Organizers with booming sound systems on trucks with raised platforms directed protesters from a wide range of environmental and social movements. Marisol Garcia, a Kichwa woman from Peru marching at the head of one group, said protesters are there to put pressure on world leaders to make “more humanized decisions.” The demonstrators walked about 4 kilometers (about 2.5 miles) on a route that took them near the main venue for the talks, known as COP30. Protesters earlier this week twice disrupted the talks by surrounding the venue, including an incident Tuesday where two security guards suffered minor injuries. Activists participate in a climate protest during the COP30 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Belem, Brazil. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) A full day of sessions was planned at the venue, including talks on how to move forward with $300 billion a year in annual climate financial aid that rich countries agreed last year to give to poor nations to help wean themselves off fossil fuels, adapt to a nastier, warmer world and compensate for extreme weather damage. RELATED STORIES COP30 makes individual climate actions seem small. That’s why experts say to work in groups 4 MIN READ Protesters in Pikachu costumes demand Japan end fossil fuel financing at UN climate conference 4 MIN READ Business groups ask Supreme Court to pause California climate reporting laws in emergency appeal 2 MIN READ Many of the protesters reveled in the freedom to demonstrate more openly than at recent climate talks held in more authoritarian countries, including Azerbaijan, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. Thousands of people joined in a procession that sprawled across most of the march’s route. Youth leader Ana Heloisa Alves, 27, said it was the biggest climate march she has been part of. “This is incredible,” she said. “You can’t ignore all these people.” Alves was at the march to fight for the Tapajos River, which the Brazilian government wants to develop commercially. “The river is for the people,” her group’s signs read.
