French trade unions plan national strike for Nov 5 as Macron vows to send in army

French President Emmanuel Macron has said the government would send in the army this weekend in an attempt to quell the violence and riots as leftist groups planned again to march around and cause mayhem. Macron has said that the kind of violence and damage that was seen last weekend across the country would not be permitted this weekend.

"Those who want to cause disorder in city centers next Saturday will be prevented from doing so," he said, per the NY Post. "There must be no wavering at the top of the state."

The plan from leftist groups for this Saturday is a march across central Paris. Their route includes areas that were damaged, vandalized, torched and looted. Groups agitating for more funding for education–in a nation that spends exorbitantly—have also called for more protests. The cause began as an ask for reforms to the bloated educational system but has quickly spiraled.

So far, 70% of those arrested have been adults with 95% being men, including the 40-year-old Antifa militant who was arrested for burning down the Limoges City Hall. The mayor of Limoges said that 500-600 agitators infiltrated the crowd, brought explosives and a battering ram, and used that to enter the building whereupon they threatened workers and set the place ablaze.

Macron spoke from Qatar where he has been attempting to urge a lowering of fuel costs. In his address to the French public after last weekend's chaos, he blamed US President Donald Trump for the fuel costs, indicating that these costs have something to do with the riots wrecking France.

As for Trump's remarks about France, Macron had no time for them. "We don't need that," he said, "we already have difficulties to deal with." France has had to continue to borrow money to keep the government afloat amid the riots.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu met with labor unions, which was the one group that Macron said could continue to demonstrate even as he told other far-left groups their agitations would not be permitted. Lecornu said the government would make sure the unions had "the indispensable freedom to demonstration," but claimed there were bad actors who were trying to disrupt that.

"There is huge and legitimate anger," said head of the CGT union Sophie Binet. France has a retirement age of 62, endless social programs, and a robust welfare state. It is unclear what more the government could give away and still remain solvent—which they barely are.

Binet has invited youth groups, some of which have been among the 54 mostly adult leftist groups that have been backing and organizing the demonstrations, to talks with the unions.