The riots started with a group of mainly young neo-Nazis attacking Vietnamese street hawkers.
On the fourth night, stones and petrol bombs were thrown at an apartment block in Thomas-Müntzer-Straße that housed asylum seekers.
After the incidents, the Saxony government evacuated the asylum seekers from Thomas-Müntzer-Straße and many contract workers left the town.
In 1991, the word ausländerfrei (free of foreigners) became a synonym for the riot and the 'un-word of the year' in Germany 1991.
The city made efforts to polish its public image and to take action against right-wing radicals.