Top 50 UPI photos of 2012 (51 images)

Police and demonstrators clash during a May Day protest in Oakland, California on May 1, 2012. Police made arrests and threw tear gas. UPI/Terry Schmitt

Young boys pose with the Joe Paterno statue outside Beaver Stadium in State College, Pennsylvania on July 21, 2012. The statue has created a storm of controversy with demands for removal. Sculptor Angelo Di Maria said "Lets see how everyone feels in six months, or a year". The statue was removed a week later. UPI/George M Powers

A Snowy Owl whoops in for a landing at Damon Point, Grays Harbor County, Washington on February 5, 2012. The rare visitors from the Arctic stayed in the area, feasting on small mammals and fattening up before departing in March headed on their way back to the Arctic to breed. UPI/Jim Bryant

The 13th Harbin Ice and Snow Festival, one of the world's four biggest ice and snow festivals, opens in Harbin, the capital of the China's northern Heilongjiang Province near Russia, February 23, 2012. As the festival grows in international attention and as China's economy grows, the size and amount of it's ice sculptures increase each year. UPI/Stephen Shaver