The Nuit debout movement emerged in France in spring 2016 from mobilizations against a labor reforms proposal (loi travaille), known as the El Khomri law after Myriam El Khomri, who was French Socialist minister of labor at the time. In the wake of the introduction of the El Khomri bill to parliament on 17 February 2016 activists had discussed the idea of using public spaces to bring together different mobilizations. On 31 March, at the end of a day of general strike, daytime occupations of public squares, authorized mass demonstrations, and small unauthorized ones, activists called for a nuit debout to occupy the highly symbolic Place de la République, in Paris. Previously latent and fragmented groups and new activists joined in the protest, with substantial involvement from students, workers, teachers, unions, and housing rights, anti-development, and alterglobal activists. The movement's call for action resonated widely and an estimated 390,000 participants joined demonstrations across France on that day. In the following months, the movement also involved citizens with no activist background and a network of about 400 Nuit debout groups was established, mostly in France but also abroad. When the El Khomri bill was approved by parliament in August, the movement declined in visibility. However, some of its grievances and repertoire reemerged in the Yellow Vests movement, which began in 2018.