Nuit debout

Nuit debout
Protestors occupy Paris's Place de la République, 10 April 2016
Date	from 31 March 2016
Location	France and other countries
Goals	Among others, withdrawal of proposed labor reforms
Methods	Occupations of public squares Public discussions

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. The movement was organized around a broad aim of "overthrowing the El Khomri bill and the world it represents". It has been compared to the Occupy movement in the United States and to Spain's anti-austerity 15-M or Indignados movement.

The movement began at Paris's Place de la République, where protestors held nightly assemblies following the 31 March protest. The protests spread to dozens of other cities and towns in France as well as to neighbouring countries in Europe and to countries further afield. Turnout at these protests dwindled after the first weeks; activists maintained the movement's presence on the internet.

The name "Nuit debout" has been translated into English as "Up All Night", "Standing Night", and "Rise up at night", among other variants. Commentators have noted that the word debout has "significant resonance" in French political culture as it is the first word in the socialist anthem "The Internationale" ("Arise…!").

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 Spain, the 15-M or Indignados movement saw large-scale demonstrations and occupations of public squares; the movement led eventually to the rise of the anti-austerity political party Podemos. The United States saw the rise of Occupy Wall Street, in which protestors occupied Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan. In the wider Occupy movement, many major cities around the world saw similar protests. These movements inspired some protests in France at the time, such as an indignados-style protest at La Défense in November 2011. However, these protests had a limited impact in the country before 2016. The French commentator Pierre Haski explains: