Marching to the beat of pounding sound systems, thousands of climate protesters have been bringing their message to the gates of the COP30 climate talks in Brazil.
Chanting and singing free the Amazon, demonstrators in host city Belém have been carrying three giant coffins reading Oil, Coal, and Gas flanked by two grim reapers.
Indigenous groups displayed signs reading the answer is us as an inflatable elephant and anaconda weaved through the crowd under the hot sun.
It is the first time since 2021 that protesters have been allowed to demonstrate outside the UN climate talks. The last three took place in countries that do not permit public protest.
We are holding a funeral for fossil fuels, Tuga Cíntia told the BBC, representing the theatre group Hydra Dance from the Federal University of Pará. I'm here because enough is enough with COP meetings and theory. It's time for us to actually act, she said.
Indigenous communities, Brazilian youth groups, and activists from across the world joined the march in their thousands.
As the midday sun intensified, some sought shelter in a petrol station forecourt. Fossil fuels are still being burned. We know all too well what it's like to live on the frontline of climate change, Brianna Fruean, a climate activist from Samoa, a low-lying island extremely vulnerable to climate change, told the BBC.
Some carried signs reading demarcation now, calling for indigenous groups to be given legal ownership of their territories. Hundreds of indigenous groups live in the Amazon and are regarded by experts as the best protectors of biodiversity and forests.
Security was tight at the COP30 venue as police with riot shields guarded the entrance. The meeting was dubbed the indigenous people's COP but many groups feel their concerns over deforestation, land protection, and resource extraction in their homes are not being heard.
Negotiations continued at the COP30 talks on Saturday. Nearly 200 countries are meeting to try to make progress on tackling climate change. However, little progress was made in the first week of the talks.
President Luis Ignacio Lula da Silva of Brazil is hosting the talks and chose the city of Belém to put the world's focus on the Amazon. However, shortly before the talks opened, his government granted permission to the Brazilian state oil company to explore for oil at the mouth of the Amazon.
The talks will continue next week amid ongoing protests and calls for urgent action on climate change.
