From house breaking in Johannesburg to hippos on the loose in Tbilisi to rioters attacking a policewoman in Burundi, Reuters photographers tell the story behind some of the most iconic pictures of the year. Here: Protesters drag a female police officer accused of shooting a protester in the Buterere neighbourhood of Bujumbura, Burundi, May 12, 2015. Goran Tomasevic: Protesters started throwing stones at a group of police, who then started to run away. The policewoman in the photo, Medikintos Inabeza, 33, got left behind and then some protesters started to push her, saying that she had shot a female protestor in the stomach with an AK47 rifle. I didn't see anything of that. There were 5 or 10 protesters pushing the policewoman at first, then others came and joined in. Up to 20 or 30 protesters were surrounding her at one point. The protesters kicked and beat her very badly; I also saw a couple of knives. I thought they were going to kill her... (Photo by Goran Tomasevic/Reuters)

Firefighting teams try to extinguish an oil fire November 27, 2016 as smoke billows from one of the remaining oil wells set ablaze by ISIL in their retreat from Qayyarah at the start of the Mosul offensive which began more than a month prior. (Photo by Byron Smith/ZUMA Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Vanessa, thirty-five, had three children with an abusive husband. She “lost her mind, started doing heroin”, after losing the children, who were taken away and given to her mother. The drugs led to homelessness and prostitution. She grew up on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, but now spends her time in Hunts Point, “trying to survive everyday. Just doing whatever it takes”.

This close-up image – of a Holi Festival celebrant in Vrindivan, India, coated in neon-colored powder – was submitted to National Geographic’s Your Shot in the last week of March. On April 1 we published it on our Daily News site, along with seven other bright scenes captured during the Hindu spring Festival of Colors. (Photo by Tinto Alencherry/National Geographic)

Participants struggle to reach the prizes during a greased-pole climbing competition held as a part of the independence day celebrations in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, August 17, 2014. Indonesia is celebrating its 69th independence from the Dutch colonial rule. (Photo by Dita Alangkara/AP Photo)

The finishing touches are made to a giant sculpture on the Hayward Gallery entitled “Urban Fox” and made from straw bales on April 18, 2011 in London, England. The sculpture features in the Southbank Centre's 60th anniversary celebration of the 1951 Festival of Britain. The celebration will feature various cultural and creative events and runs from April 22 until September 4, 2011 at London's Southbank Centre. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Soldiers of the 70th division of the American 7th Army hold up a Nazi flag and a portrait of Adolf Hitler, taken during the World War II capture of Saarbrucken. (Photo by Horace Abrahams/Keystone/Getty Images). 22nd March 1945

2000 attended a welcome party at TigerTiger Manchester which was the first event in set of big club night for new students to Manchester and Salford universities in Manchester, UK on September 19, 2016. This year, university bosses have stepped up security in Manchester. (Photo by Jordan Sinclair/UK News Pictures)