Wikipedia
The Jeltoqsan or "December" of 1986 were riots that took place in Alma-Ata (present day Almaty), Kazakhstan, in response to General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's dismissal of Dinmukhamed Konayev, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan and an ethnic Kazakh, and his appointment of Gennady Kolbin, an outsider from the Russian SFSR. Some sources cite Kolbin's ethnicity as Russian, others as Chuvash.
The events lasted from 16 December until 19 December 1986. The protests began in the morning of 17 December, as a student demonstration attracted thousands of participants as they marched through Brezhnev Square across to the CPK Central Committee building. As internal troops and OMON forces entered the city, violence erupted throughout the city, capital of Kazakhstan until 1987. In the following days, protests spread to Shymkent, Taldykorgan, and Karaganda.