As this year comes to a close, it remains unclear how future generations will look back on the frenetic year of 2011. Boehner cries as he is introduced as House Speaker 465 R (photo credit: REUTERS/Jim Young) Palestinian woman throws stone at Israeli soldiers 465 R (photo credit: Mohamad Torokman / Reuters) Tunisian soldier yells 465 R (photo credit: REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra) Egyptian rioter 465 R (photo credit: Goran Tomasevic / Reuters) Qaddafi 465 R (photo credit: REUTERS/Louafi Larbi) Gilad Shalit returns from captivity, alongside Ehud Barak, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Benny Gantz. (photo credit: REUTERS/Handout .) Greek protests 465 R (photo credit: REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol) Syria protests 465 R (photo credit: REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol) It was in this year that we witnessed unprecedented protest movements in the Middle East, Europe and the United States with the people calling for change, reform and credible democracy. In North Africa and the Arabian peninsula, four autocratic leaders took their final bows before unwelcoming crowds that successfully pushed them out. This selection of photographs from Reuters includes a number on the so-called "Arab Spring" protests. A sensational photo captures an Arab protester in Cairo standing in front of a burning barricade in the run-up to ex-president Hosni Mubarak's ouster. Another depicts iconic leader Muammar Gaddafi driving in Tripoli, tepidly triumphant, not long before his capture by rebels.One photo shows Gilad Schalit upon his release after over five years in Hamas captivity. The soldier walks, eyes towards the ground, as he is led by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz.Other photos depict the austerity protests in Greece, which broke out months before similar economically focused demonstrations erupted in Tel Aviv, and eventually in the Occupy movement in the United States.
