40 Most Powerful Images Of 2014

2014 has been the year of new achievements; the first, historic landing of a probe on a comet; Malala Yousafzai becoming the youngest winner in history of The Nobel Peace Prize; Germany taking home the World Cup; Gay marriage becoming legal in the UK and in 18 more US states; 15 year old Russian figure skater, Julia Lipnitskaia, leading her team to gold in the Winter Olympics and nobody could get 'Let It Go' out of their heads as Frozen became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. Although throughout the year there were also disturbing events and conflict. Almost 200,000 Syrians lost their lives in the escalating civil war. The deadly virus Ebola killed more than 6,800 people this year as it spread throughout West Africa. London and Hong Kong witnessed public unrest as government decisions were strongly disagreed with whilst protests took place throughout America as racial tensions stirred after the shooting of Michael Brown, who was 18 years old. Throughout the year each moment has been captured and with the ongoing rise of social media these images have been shared with the world. In this compilation we look at the most powerful images of the year...

Government supporters beat a naked opposition student as he's forced to sit on the ground inside of the Central University of Venezuela, UCV, during an anti-government protest in Caracas, Venezuela.

Students attempted to march from the university to protest the countries deteriorating economy, but hundreds of riot police prevented them from leaving campus, deploying tear gas and flash-bang grenades. The hours-long street battle ended with pro-government groups in bandanas storming the campus.