RABULIST RIOTS

(1838), in Swedish history, wave of popular demonstrations in Stockholm that led to a loosening of Swedish government press censorship and furthered the fortunes of parliamentary government. The riots, named for a derogatory designation for Swedish radicals, occurred in the summer of 1838, following the conviction of M.J. Crusenstolpe, a liberal journalist, for libel against King Charles XIV. The intensity of the demonstrations, in which two demonstrators were killed, led the government to relax its harassment of the press, thus significantly advancing the position of liberal Swedish elements at the expense of monarchical and conservative forces.