History of London minor crimes. Public hangings were common in London, and were popular public events. In 1780, London was rocked by the Gordon Riots, an uprising by Protestants against Roman Catholic emancipation led by Lord George Gordon. Severe damage was caused to Catholic churches and homes, and 285 rioters were killed. In the year 1787, freed slaves from London, America, and many of Britain's colonies founded Freetown in modern-day Sierra Leone. Up until 1750, London Bridge was the only crossing over the Thames, but in that year Westminster Bridge was opened and, for the first time in history, London Bridge, in a
Anti-Catholicism in the Soviet Union Anti-Catholicism in the Soviet Union Anti-Catholicism in the Soviet Union, including the Soviet Anti-Catholic Campaigns, refer to those concerted efforts taken by the Soviet Union to defame, undermine, or otherwise decrease or limit the role of the Catholic Church in Europe. Prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917, Russia had an Anti-Catholic Tradition, dating back to Ivan the Terrible in the 16th Century and before. In the eyes of the Russian leadership, Catholicism was intrinsically linked with the West; therefore, attempts by the Holy See to expand into Russia meant attempts by the West to expand its culture into Russian