Nuit debout is a French social movement that began on 31 March 2016, arising out of protests against proposed labor reforms known as the El Khomri law or Loi travail.

In 2011, in the wake of the Great Recession, several developed countries saw the rise of civil disobedience movements protesting against issues such as inequality and corporate greed.

In 2011 and 2012, when Occupy was the rallying cry of many cities, giving rise to political movements such as Podemos in Spain, the French were looking forward to electing a Socialist president instead of the highly unpopular Nicolas Sarkozy.

[20] According to the Belgian sociologist Geoffrey Pleyers, these demonstrations gained traction not just because of the unpopularity of the proposed changes to the labor code, but because of widespread opposition to the government's policies generally: What distinguishes social movements from mere protests is that they have a larger purpose, not one specific demand.

From the first meetings of university and high school students on 9 March the El Khomri law served as an opportunity to express general indignation.

[1]The Nuit debout movement has its origins at a meeting held in Paris on 23 February 2016 which was organized by François Ruffin, the founder of the left-wing journal Fakir and the director of the documentary film Merci patron!.

[22] Following the initial night of occupation at the Place de la République, protesters continued to gather over the following days, defying a ban on mass demonstrations under the ongoing state of emergency declared by the government in the wake of the November 2015 Paris attacks.

[23][24] Participants began gathering every night at 6 p.m. to conduct a popular assembly (assemblée générale), individuals taking turns to speak for two minutes at a time.

[28][29] On the evening of 14 April, President François Hollande participated in a televised interview, which was projected live on a giant screen in the Place de la République, in which he vowed to press ahead with the labor reforms.

"[8] During the first two weeks, assemblies took place mostly in city center locations, and some critics accused the movement of being predominantly white, bourgeois, and unrepresentative of the wider population.

[32] Several Nuit debout events were held in Paris suburbs such as Saint-Denis and Saint-Ouen in mid-April, however these failed to attract local participants in large numbers.

[40] While the initial street protests arose out of opposition to the El Khomri labor reforms, the Nuit debout movement itself coalesced from the beginning around a much broader set of themes.

[11] Among recurring themes of discussion are: calls for a universal basic income;[42] opposition to labor arrangements which place workers in competition with one another, as enshrined in trade treaties such as the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership;[42] amnesty for undocumented migrants and solidarity with refugees;[43] and feminist issues including the gender pay gap and the safety of sex workers.

[45] A discussion group was set up in the Place de la République on the question of what should be included in such a rewritten constitution; some suggested that government should be selected by sortition, or that elected officials should be subject to recall by voters.

[49] The initial set-up for Radio debout involved a table, four chairs, three microphones, a mixing desk, two computers, and a 4G USB stick.

A survey conducted by the polling agency Odoxa on behalf of the television news channel i-Télé, and published on 9 April 2016, found that 71% of respondents had heard of the movement, and that 60% supported it.

[56] In particular, the organization pointed to media coverage of an incident involving the philosopher Alain Finkielkraut, who was videoed being heckled by protesters at the Place de la République.

[56] Laurent Joffrin, in an editorial for the left-leaning newspaper Libération written shortly after the Finkielkraut incident, defended his own paper's coverage of the movement, pointing out that its reporters had repeatedly been sent to document the debates taking place at the popular assemblies in Paris.

[61] On 11 April, Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls met with the country's student leaders, offering concessions on the proposed labor reforms in an effort to defuse the protests, saying, "The government is listening.

[62][63] In a televised interview broadcast on 14 April 2016, President François Hollande vowed to press ahead with the proposed labor reforms.

"[64] On 10 May, facing opposition to the El Khomri law from a group of his own MPs, Prime Minister Valls announced that the government planned to force the bill through parliament without a vote, using Article 49.3 of the French Constitution.

[70] The government survived the confidence vote on 12 May, meaning that the labor bill would be passed directly to the Senate, France's upper house, for debate.