The fuel prices caused protests in one region. The others joined in solidarity. But after seeing how much support the protests have, more people started joining and the protest became political, demanding to change the regime.

In Almaty, the protests got violent with killings and mass looting. A few other cities saw looting and destruction of ex-president's statues, but most of Kazakhstan was peaceful, including the place where the original gas-price protests started. The violence part does not represent the sentiment of the majority, I would bet, it's something organized; I don't know by whom and for what reason.