Faces of defiance: Iconic protest photos that shook the world

These iconic images reveal the human stories behind some of the world's biggest protests

Last updated: July 24, 2026 | 12:42

2 MIN READ

From city streets to global headlines, a single photograph can capture the courage, grief and determination of people demanding change. This gallery brings together some of the most powerful protest images of recent years.

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Palestinian girl Ahed Tamimi (C) challenges Israeli soldiers during a protest in the West Bank in 2018.

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This UGC image posted on Twitter reportedly on October 26, 2022 shows an unveiled woman standing on top of a vehicle as thousands make their way towards Aichi cemetery in Saqez, Mahsa Amini's home town in the western Iranian province of Kurdistan, to mark 40 days since her death, defying heightened security measures as part of a bloody crackdown on women-led protests.

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In one of the most defining photographs of the protests taking across India: A police van packed with detained student protesters. A 27-year-old woman standing directly in its path. Rhiya Ahir, a model, actor and entrepreneur, has become one of the most recognisable faces of the demonstrations after she stopped a Mumbai Police vehicle near Shivaji Park and demanded the immediate release of the protesters inside.

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A woman wearing a headscarf is waving the Egyptian flag against Tahriri Square in Cairo, Egypt in 2013.

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A demonstrator faces down a riot policeman during a protest marking the country’s 1973 military coup in Santiago, Chile on 11 September 2016.

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Umbrellas are opened as tens of thousands of people come to the main protest site one month after Hong Kong police used tear gas to disperse protesters, Oct. 28, 2014.

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A woman sits in front of riot police blocking the road to protect protesters during an anti-government march on 24 April 2015 in Seoul, South Korea.

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Protesters gather in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Feb. 1, 2011. Tens of thousands of people assembled to demand the ouster of then-president Hosni Mubarak.

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Protesters chant anti-police slogans during a protest in front of the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi, India, against the government's reaction to rape incidents in the country, Dec. 22, 2012.

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A Turkish riot police officer uses tear gas on people protesting the destruction of trees in a park in Taksim Square, Istanbul, May 28, 2013.

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Tear gas rains down on a woman kneeling in the street with her hands in the air after a demonstration over the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, Aug. 17, 2014.

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Alaa Salah addresses protesters during a demonstration for economic reforms and the resignation of then-president Omar al-Bashir, in Khartoum, Sudan.

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Protestors chant during an Occupy Wall Street march, Monday, Sept. 17, 2012, in New York.

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