Gavazzi Riots

Gavazzi Riots, disturbances in Quebec and Montreal in June 1853 during a lecture tour by Alessandro Gavazzi, Italian orator of the Risorgimento (movement for Italian unification) and a former Catholic priest who had become a bitter critic of the Roman Catholic Church. On June 6 Gavazzi, speaking in strongly Catholic Quebec, provoked a riot that was quelled by troops. Another demonstration occurred three days later, while Gavazzi was lecturing in Montreal. Troops were once again...