office, while the youth unemployment rate was above 25 percent. By early 2016, opinion polls said that four in five voters were opposed to Hollande running for re-election in 2017. In an effort to reduce the unemployment rate, Hollande's government had embarked on a program of labor market liberalization. As part of this program, the government set out proposals, named after the Labor Minister Myriam El Khomri, designed to make France's labor market more flexible. If adopted, the El Khomri law would make sweeping changes to the country's labor code, with the effect of making it easier for companies to lay off workers, and loosening restrictions on working hours, including reducing overtime payments for hours worked beyond France's statutory 35-hour workweek. The changes would also reduce severance payments that workers are entitled to if their company has made them redundant. The proposals were met with significant public resistance. The country's youth organizations and unions organized a series of large-scale street protests in opposition to the reforms, the first of which was held on 9 March 2016. The largest of these protests, on 31 March attracted 390,000 participants nationwide, according to the French authorities (unions put the figure at 1.2 million). 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. In protest leaflets, students called for resistance "against government policy" rather than just this one bill. During marches, protesters expressed their disappointment with the political left in general and the ruling Socialist Party in particular. Origins 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!. Ruffin stated that the aim of the meeting was to bring together a number of active protest groups, including people protesting against a proposed airport at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, factory workers protesting against the Goodyear tire company, and teachers protesting against education reforms. A retired delivery driver who attended