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)

“Hey! I'm Thomas Shahan, an artist and macrophotographer from Oklahoma. In my spare time over the past few years, I've been shooting portraiture of local arthropods. Why would I devote countless hours to tramping through forests, fields and the like searching for insects and spiders? Well, despite some common beliefs, arthropods (members of the phylum Arthropoda – insects, spiders, crustaceans...) represent an endlessly varied, wildly beautiful and fascinating bunch of animals with surprisingly personable faces and behavior. Often, all it takes is simply inspecting their lives on a closer level to turn repulsion to reverence”. – Thomas Shahan

Photo: Adult Male Jumping Spider at Sunset – Phidippus mystaceus. (Photo by Thomas Shahan; Source: Flickr)

Crowds look on as Xolo the Giant Dog, one of the giant Royal De Luxe street puppets taking part in Liverpool's World War I centenary commemorations, walks through the streets of Liverpool on July 25, 2014 in Liverpool, England. French street theatre company Royal de Luxe are putting on a show throughout the city as part of Liverpool's World War I centenary commemorations from July 23-27. The giant puppet grandmother has slept in the hall for two days as part of “Memories of August 1914”. As the giants tour the city the Little Girl Giant and her dog Xolo will meet up with the giant Grandmother telling the story of life leading up to World War One. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

In this September 5, 2012 file photo, people run for cover as smoke rises from the site of a fire at a fireworks factory on the outskirts of Sivakasi, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) southwest of Chennai, India. Police in southern India arrested six employees of the fireworks factory for a massive blaze that killed 40 workers and injured 60 others. (Photo by AP Photo/File). P.S. I didn't publish the photos which you already saw here (Avax).

Tibetan monks create an intricate picture made from coloured sand at St. Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art on November 23, 2011 in Glasgow, Scotland. The monks, from the Panchen Lama's Monastery, are creating a Sand Mandala as part of a Tantric Buddhist ritual, invoking the presence of the Buddha in a design representing the palace of the deities. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

A Filipino pet owner carries her dog as she prays before the animal blessing rites at the Our Lady of Remedies Parish Church in Malate district, Manila, Philippines on Sunday, October 5, 2014. Several Filipinos brought their pets to be blessed during the annual event which is also done to celebrate the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and ecology. (Photo by Aaron Favila/AP Photo)

A female is doused with wine as people take part in a wine battle, in the small village of Haro, northern Spain, Friday, June 29, 2018. La Batalla de Vino is held each June in the town of Haro on the feast of St Peter, an event organizers say draws thousands of people. On Friday, participants soaked each other with buckets and toy spray guns, turning their clothes a shade of purple. (Photo by Alvaro Barrientos/AP Photo)

Mammoet Rallysport's Martin Van Den Brink and Co-Driver Wouter De Graaff in action surrounded by camels during stage 10, Neom to AlUla, Saudi Arabia on January 13, 2021. (Photo by Hamad I Mohammed/Reuters)