The so-called Nuit Debout movement, which can be translated as “stand up at night”, began on 31 March as protest against a labour market reform presented by the left-wing government.


The El Khomri law, named after the labour minister Myriam El Khomri, mainly makes it easier and less costly for employers to lay off staff, and requires workers to be more flexible on working hours.

Inspired by the 2011 Indignados movement in Spain, the Nuit Debout is a makeshift camp where people talk about the reform, but also about politics in general in committees and a “popular assembly”.

Music is played, artistic happenings are created and a library has been set up. The Nuit Debout has its own website and media – Radio Debout and TV Debout – and even its own calendar. Today is 42 March. …

… Several politicians asked the government to stop the movement. Former centre-right prime minister Francois Fillon said he was “shocked” that the movement was “tolerated” under the state of emergency imposed after the November attacks.

Last week the centre-left mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, objected to the movement’s “privatisation” of the public area.

Criticism from politicians from the left and right is a reflection of the Nuit Debout’s opposition to the political parties as a whole.

“Politics is not something for professionals, it is for everybody,” the movement’s manifesto says.

“The human should be at the core of our leaders’ preoccupations. Vested interests have overridden the general interest.”

Nuit Debout has no leader and has been wary of support from any politicians. Instead, it has been wooing trade unions.

However, although the unions are broadly critical proposed labour market reform, they do not seem to be interested in a wider movement that they would have difficulty managing.”…