The Riot of Hoyerswerda was a xenophobic riot in Hoyerswerda, a town in the east of Saxony, Germany, from September 17 to 23, 1991.
The riot started with a group of mainly young neo-Nazis attacking Vietnamese street hawkers.[1] After the intervention of the police, a hostel used mainly by Mozambican contract workers came under attack. In the following night, further riots took place in Hoyerswerda and foreigners were hurt. On the fourth night, stones and petrol bombs were thrown at an apartment block in Thomas-Müntzer-Straße that housed asylum seekers. During the riot, 32 people were hurt and 83 were arrested.
After the riot, 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 Unwort des Jahres (faux pas word of the year) 1991.
The city made efforts to polish its public image and to take action against right-wing radicals. Although the presence of right wing radicals in the city is less visible, it is still a center of right-wing extremism. In 2006, the Jungen Nationaldemokraten, the youth organization of the National Democratic Party of Germany, organized a demonstration to remember the 1991 riots. The police arrested over 50 counter-demonstrators and the demonstration took place.