An Egyptian Coptic Christian women holds onto a pew during the celebration of Christmas Nativity Liturgy, the start of Christmas, at the Coptic Orthodox Church of St. George on January 6, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

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)

Revellers celebrate moments before the rocket fire or “Txupinazo” marks the start of the Festival of San Fermin (or Sanfermines) at Consistorio square in Pamplona, Spain, 06 July 2014. The annual nine day long running-with-the-bulls fiesta commemorates St. Fermin, Pamplona's patron saint. (Photo by Javier Lizin/EFE)

Revelers celebrate during fireworks marking the start of the New Year on Copacabana beach on January 1, 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazilian revelers traditionally dress in white to honor the New Year's holiday along with the Brazilian Goddess of the Sea- Iemanja. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Revelers celebrate during fireworks marking the start of the New Year on Copacabana beach on January 1, 2017 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Brazilian revelers traditionally dress in white to honor the New Year's holiday along with the Brazilian Goddess of the Sea- Iemanja. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Five year old George holds an orange to feed the Owl butterflies at the Natural History Museum in London, Thursday, March 30, 2017. Hundreds of tropical butterflies were released to launch the Natural History Museum's Sensational Butterflies exhibition, starting for the public on March 31, 2017. (Photo by Frank Augstein/AP Photo)

In this Friday, February 1, 2019, photo, Filipino-Chinese display piggy banks at the start of celebrations leading to next week's Lunar New Year in Chinatown, Manila, Philippines. This year is the Year of the Earth Pig on the Lunar calendar and is supposed to represent abundance, diligence and generosity. (Photo by Bullit Marquez/AP Photo)

A girl yawns as she and others wait for the start of their first day in school, an occasion known as the Day of Knowledge, in the small town Ignalina, some 110km (68 miles) north of the capital Vilnius, Lithuania, Monday, September 2, 2019. (Photo by Mindaugas Kulbis/AP Photo)