Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2021-12-28/Gallery

We look back at some of the most dramatic moments and developments of 2021 through Wikicommons images.

Storming of the United States Capitol

• 
  Trump supporters on the steps of the United States Capitol on January 6
• 
  Mock gallows at the US Capitol January 6

There was an

• 
  Man receives a COVID-19 vaccination in Delhi during January 2021
• 
  A Wikipedian after receiving a jab

Though the rollout began in late 2020, 2021 has very much been the year of

Coup d'état in Myanmar

• 
  Military roadblocks during Myanmar's military coup on 1 February
• 
  A protest in March

At the start of February 2021, Myanmar's democratically elected government was overthrown by the country's military. The army declared the 2020 election result invalid and announced its intention to hold new elections after a year long state of emergency. By 12 April, at least 707 people (including children) had been killed by the military or police forces and 3,070 detained. The Burmese Army's motivations for the coup are debated.

Death of Prince Philip

• 
  Prince Philip as a child in the 1920s
• 
  Floral tributes to

  Prince Philip at Sandringham House

• 
  Israeli bombing of civilian neighborhoods in the Gaza Strip on 14 May
• 
  Bus and car burnt out after rocket hit in Holon, in coastal Israel

This outbreak of violence in May was the latest episode in a conflict dating back many decades. The crisis began with a period of protests and unrest in East Jerusalem (an area effectively annexed by Israel as part of the Palestinian occupied territories). This eventually culminated in Hamas firing rockets into Israeli territory to which Israel responded with air strikes. At least 256 Palestinians were killed in the crisis including 66 children along with thirteen Israelis including two children. Significant numbers of people appear to have been injured whilst 72,000 Palestinians were displaced.

Return of sport

• 
  Ukraine at the Olympics opening ceremony on 23 July
• 
  Ihor Reizlin scores in his individual men's épée Olympic bronze medal match

After many of the major sporting events of 2020 were cancelled due to the pandemic, sport made a major comeback in 2021. With events such as the Olympics and the European Football Championships (both referred to by their original date) providing much needed excitement and relief for people around the world. Sports events, sportsmen and sportswomen dominated lists of Wikipedia's most popular articles in the summer of 2021.

Taliban resurgence in Afghanistan

• 
  Evacuation flight carries 823 people out of Kabul
• 
  U.S. Marines assist with security at an Evacuation Control Checkpoint during an evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, August 20.

This August saw the conflict the US President called "America's longest war" come to a swift end as the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan. A few months after the formal announcement of the withdrawal of NATO troops the Taliban, which had been gaining strength in the countryside, swept through Afghanistan's cities in little more than a week reaching Kabul on the 15th. A chaotic airlift followed with almost all remnants of western presence disappearing from the country by the end of the month. Today, with its financial reserves frozen and aid stopped, the country is in crisis. 22% of its population are reported to be close to famine whilst an additional 36% are acutely food insecure. Among those under the age of five alone, 1 million children are believed to be at risk of starving to death.

Supply problems

COP26

• 
  Panel of politicians at the conference
• 
  Model representing children displaced by climate change carried through streets of Glasgow during protests of inaction on climate change on 10 November during the climate conference

November saw the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Glasgow. More broadly the year was marked by a wide range of extreme weather events across the world ranging from drought and wildfires to floods and monsoons.

Conflict over migration

Whilst the 2020 downturn in overall migration rates continued into 2021, that didn't stop immigration causing controversy across the Western world. In the second half of 2021, Belarus and the European Union came to blows over a

• 
  20 January: Joe Biden speaks at his inauguration
• 
  11 April: Voting in the first round of the Peruvian general election, which was won by the left-wing Free Peru party
• 
  13 June:

  Israeli Prime minister (president Reuven Rivlin

  , center)
• 
  12 July: Anti-government protests in Cuba
• 
  26 September: Ballot counting in Berlin during the German Election which eventually led to Olaf Scholz replacing Angela Merkel as the country's chancellor
• 
  8 November: New government meets following the Czech election which saw the main opposition coalition alliance of

  SPOLU and Pirates and Mayors

  gaining a legislative majority
• 
  21 November: Protestor against the

  Sudanese military coup
• 
  11 December: Anti-nuclear activists protest AUKUS, a British-American pact with Australia to help the latter build nuclear powered submarines