The December events in Almaty, also known as Zheltoksan (Kazakh Zheltoқsan kөterіlіsі) are the actions of the Kazakh youth people that were taking place on December 17-18, 1986 in Almaty, the former capital of Kazakh SSR. According to the official version, the riots started because of the decision of the CPSU General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to dismiss the first secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan Dinmukhamed Kunaev, and replace him with Gennady Kolbin, the first secretary of the Ulyanovsk regional committee of the party, who previously never worked in Kazakhstan. The rioters demanded to appoint to the position of the head of the republic the representative of the indigenous population. Later on, the unrest of the Kazakh youth took place in other cities and regions of Kazakhstan. December events in Kazakhstan became one of the first rallies of Soviet People against the dictates of the center. The similar events took place earlier in 1986 in Yakutia , and later in other national republics of the Soviet Union : in Minsk (1988), Tbilisi (1989), in Baku and Dushanbe (1990), in Vilnius and Riga (1991).
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