Washington, DC - January 20: U.S. President-elect Joe Biden and Dr. Jill Biden arrive to Biden's inauguration on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images
Politics home and abroad were at the forefront of most peoples’ minds this year as we continue to contend with the likes of Covid while the US welcomed in its new president.
Elsewhere, climate activists made 2021 a year to take note with protests throughout these past 12 months.
The plight of refugees, attempting to escape their conditions at home, also made headlines.
It started with the storming of the US capitol in January, following the election of Joe Biden as US president. Officials hid as protestors entered the building, looted and vandalised, with one woman being shot dead.
The Black Lives Matter movement continued to gather pace, in addition, with statues to historic figures across the globe being torn down or damaged for their links with slavery.
Following the death of Sarah Everard by an off-duty police officer, people in the UK also took to the own streets as part of a mass Reclaim These Streets protest.
So as we enter 2022, let’s take a look at some of the best pictures from across the political sphere.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the UK Mission to the United Nations in New York before meeting with Amazon Executive chairman, Jeff Bezos during the United Nations General Assembly. Picture by PA.
People gather outside a government passport office recently re-opened after Taliban announced they would be issuing a backlog of applications approved by the previous administration in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021. Picture by Felipe Dana/AP
Pro-Trump protesters inside the US Capitol building. On January 6, 2021. Hundreds breached the U.S. Capitol Building, approximately 13 were arrested and one protester was killed. Picture by Michael Nigro/Pacific Press via ZUMA
Atlanta, Georgia, USA: A woman pours libation during a candlelight vigil to honor the memory of Floyd. The vigil takes place on the day that the murder trial of ex-Minneapolis police officer Chauvin is set to begin. On May 25, 2020, Chauvin responded to a call regarding Floyd’s alleged use of a counterfeit bill. Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and forty-six seconds as Floyd was detained and in handcuffs, resulting in Floyd’s death. March 8, 2021. Picture by John Arthur Brown/ZUMA Wire
People in the crowd turn on their phone torches in Clapham Common, London, , after the Reclaim These Streets vigil for Sarah Everard was officially cancelled. Serving police constable Wayne Couzens, 48, has appeared in court charged with kidnapping and killing the marketing executive, who went missing while walking home from a friend’s flat in south London on March 3. Picture by PA
Queen Elizabeth II greeting Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the Queen’s first in-person weekly audience at Buckingham Palace, London with the Prime Minister since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Picture by PA.
COP26 Alok Sharma became emotional and said he was “deeply sorry” as COP26 reached its conclusion on Saturday evening. Picture by PA.
Winnipeg, Canada: A headless statue of Queen Victoria is seen overturned and vandalized at the provincial legislature in Winnipeg. Her statue and a statue of Queen Elizabeth II were toppled on Canada Day during demonstrations concerning Indigenous children who died at residential schools. July 2, 2021. Picture by Kelly Geraldine Malone/The Canadian Press via ZUMA Press
Scottish First Minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon on the steps outside Bute House in Edinburgh after the SNP won a fourth victory in the Scottish Parliament election. May 9, 2021. Picture by PA.
Then Health Minister Matt Hancock outside his home in north west London. Dominic Cummings, former chief adviser to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who gave evidence to the joint inquiry of the Commons Health and Social Care and Science and Technology Committees, said that Mr Hancock should have been fired over coronavirus failings and “criminal, disgraceful behaviour” on the testing target. Picture by PA.
Medellin, Antioquia, Colombia: A demonstrator throws a molotov bomb to a riot armored truck during a new day of anti-government protests during the 211 celebration of Colombia’s independence from spain, protests raised into clashes in various cities after intervention by Colombia’s riot police ESMAD. July 20, 2021. Picture by Miyer Juana/LongVisual via ZUMA Press Wire
Warsaw, Poland: A man lights a flare during the 77th Warsaw uprising anniversary. Each year, on the 1st of August at 5:00PM Varsovians take the streets to pay homage to the fallen soldiers of the Warsaw uprising that fought against the Nazi occupation during World War II. August 1, 2021. Picture by Aleksander Kalka/ZUMA Press Wire
Kandahar, Afghanistan: Afghan soldiers can be seen through a Humvee window at a military outpost in the Arghandab district of Kandahar. August 10, 2021. Picture by Adam Rountree/ZUMA Press Wire
Extinction Rebellion protesters let off flares as they stand in the fountain at the Queen Victoria Memorial, which they have covered in red paint, during a protest outside Buckingham Palace, London, August 26, 2021. Picture by PA.
Migrants take a sauna by the Bruzgi Transport and Logistics Centre, some 1.5 km northeast of Kuznica Bialostocka-Bruzgi border crossing on the Belarusian-Polish border. The migrant crisis on the border of Belarus with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia escalated on November 8, 2021. Picture by Sergei Bobylev/TASS
Acuna, Coahuila De Zaragoza, Mexico: Migrants swim the Rio Grande from Mexico to the U.S as the sun sets. Thousands of Haitian migrants have appeared at the US-Mexico border seeking to cross the Rio Grande and find refuge in the US. September 22, 2021. Picture by Raquel Natalicchio/ZUMA Press Wire.
From the storming of the Capitol to Black Lives Matter: The world of politics in pictures in 2021
