French President Emmanuel Macron arrives to pay his respect by the tomb of Lieutenant Robert Porchon, brother-in-arms of French writer Maurice Genevoix, at the Trottoir necropolis in Les Eparges, France, November 6, 2018, as part of the ceremonies marking the centenary of the First World War. Ludovic Marin/Pool via REUTERS

PARIS (Reuters) - French police on Tuesday arrested five men and a woman, all from the radical far right, suspected of plotting to attack French President Emmanuel Macron, an official close to the investigation said.

The source said France’s domestic spy agency (DGSI) ordered the raids in three different regions after obtaining intelligence that raised suspicion of an “imprecise and loosely-formed” plan for “violent action” against the president.

Police sources said the six were members of the radical far right in France. They were detained in swoops on addresses in the Isere region, southeast of Lyon, in Moselle on the border with Germany and Luxembourg, and in Ille-et-Vilaine near the city of Rennes in the country’s northwest.

It was not immediately clear what the connection between those arrested was.

In an interview published on Sunday, Macron warned of the threat from far-right movements across Europe, saying complacency during the 1930s was what had opened the way for the rise of Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy.

In June, 10 people linked to France’s radical far right were placed under formal investigation on suspicion of links to terrorist networks.

A source close to the investigation said the 10 belonged to a hardline group whose stated intent was to “fight against the threat of Islam” and were suspected of planning an attack on Muslims.

The June raids led to the seizure of ingredients for making explosives as well as guns and ammunition.

It was not clear if Tuesday’s security operation was connected to the June arrests.</s>Six people have been arrested in connection to a foiled plot to attack French President Emmanuel Macron, an official said Tuesday.

Suspects had an "imprecise and loosely-formed" plan for "violent action" against Macron, a source close to the matter told the Associated Press and Reuters.

French broadcasters BFM TV reported that the six were members of a far-right group, according to Reuters.

The six arrested are between the ages of 22 and 62 and include one woman, authorities told AP. It wasn't immediately clear if the suspects were working in coordination.

The arrests were made in southeast of Lyon, in Moselle on the border with Germany and Luxembourg and in northwest Ille-et-Vilaine, Reuters reported.

Macron was in the northeast city of Verdun, about 160 miles away from Paris, on Tuesday to take part in World War I commemorations.

President Trump and several other world leaders are scheduled to visit France this weekend, to mark the 100-year anniversary of the Nov. 11, 1918 armistice signing that ended World War I.

Macron was targeted last year bya man who allegedly plotted to shoot him during the Bastille Day parade.</s>French security agents have arrested six people on preliminary terrorism charges for allegedly plotting to attack French President Emmanuel Macron, according to a French judicial official.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the allegations, said intelligence agents detained the six in three widely scattered regions, including one suspect in the Alps, another in Brittany and four suspects near the Belgian border in Moselle. He said the plan to target the French president appeared to be vague and unfinalized but violent.

Authorities said the six were between 22 and 62 years old and included one woman. It is not known if they were suspected of working together.

French presidents have been targeted several times over the decades, including in 2002 when a far-right sympathizer tried to attack President Jacques Chirac on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris during Bastille Day celebrations.

Macron was in the northeastern French city of Verdun on Tuesday as part of centenary commemorations for the end of World War I.

The suspected plot was uncovered days before U.S. President Donald Trump and dozens of other world leaders are due in France for commemorations this weekend of the signing 100 years ago of the Nov. 11 armistice that ended World War I.</s>PARIS (AP) - French security agents have arrested six people on preliminary terrorism charges for allegedly plotting to attack French President Emmanuel Macron, according to a French judicial official.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the allegations, said intelligence agents detained the six in three widely scattered regions, including the Alps, Brittany and near the Belgian border. He said the plan to target the French president appeared to be vague and unfinalized but violent.

Authorities released no further details about the six suspects and did not say if they were suspected of working together or separately.

French presidents have been targeted several times over the decades, including in 2002 when a far-right sympathizer tried to attack President Jacques Chirac on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris during Bastille Day celebrations.

Macron was in the northeastern French city of Verdun on Tuesday as part of centenary commemorations for the end of World War I.

The suspected plot was uncovered days before U.S. President Donald Trump and dozens of other world leaders are due in France for commemorations this weekend of the signing 100 years ago of the Nov. 11 armistice that ended World War I.

French President Emmanuel Macron arrives at the Trottoir necropolis in Les Eparges, eastern France, Tuesday Nov. 6, 2018, as part of the ceremonies marking the centenary of the end of First World War. A French judicial official says six people have been arrested on preliminary terrorism charges, suspected of plotting to attack French President Emmanuel Macron. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)</s>French security agents have arrested six people on suspicion of plotting to attack President Emmanuel Macron, according to a judicial official.

French security agents have arrested six people on suspicion of plotting to attack President Emmanuel Macron, according to a judicial official.

Six held over ‘plot’ to attack French president Macron

Prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation of alleged criminal terrorist association, the official said.

Intelligence agents detained the six suspects in three scattered regions: one in the Alps, another in Brittany and four near the Belgian border in Moselle, the official added.

The alleged plan to target the French president appeared to be vague and unfinished but violent, the official said.

Authorities said the six were aged between 22 and 62 and included one woman.

Interior minister Christophe Castaner told reporters they are believed to be far-right activists.

Authorities feared “concrete threats” from the group, Mr Castaner said.

French presidents have been targeted several times over the decades.

In 2002, a far-right sympathiser tried to attack Jacques Chirac on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris during Bastille Day celebrations.

Mr Macron was in the north-eastern French city of Verdun on Tuesday as part of centenary commemorations for the end of the First World War.

The alleged plot was uncovered days before US President Donald Trump and dozens of other world leaders are due in France for weekend observances marking the signing 100 years ago of the November 11 armistice that ended the First World War.</s>French security services have foiled a plan to carry out a violent attack against President Emmanuel Macron, officials said today.

Six people with alleged right-wing ties have so far been arrested on preliminary terrorism charges, suspected of plotting to attack the French President.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the allegations, said intelligence agents detained the six in three widely scattered regions, including the Alps, Brittany and near the Belgian border.

French TV channel BFM TV reported that the six were members of the far-right, but that could not be independently confirmed.

They are suspected of undertaking an 'imprecise and loosely-formed' plan for 'violent action' against the president.

The arrests were carried out in three separate areas of France: Isere, southeast of Lyon; Moselle, on the border with Germany and Luxembourg; and in Ille-et-Vilaine, in the northwest near the city of Rennes.

It was not immediately clear what the connection between those arrested was or how they were in touch with one another.

In an interview published on Sunday, Macron warned of the threat from far-right movements across Europe, saying complacency during the 1930s was what had opened the way for the rise of Hitler in Germany and Mussolini in Italy.

Macron is currently in Verdun, the city in northeast France which was the site of the largest and longest battle of World War I.

The President is preparing to host world leaders including U.S. President Donald Trump and UK Prime Minister Theresa May during Armistice commemorations this weekend.

The far right is on the rise in France, with the National Rally party - formerly National Front - now polling two per cent higher than Macron.

A new poll examining voting intentions for the upcoming European Parliament elections show the NR on 21 per cent, with Mr Macron's Republic on the Move (LREM) on 19 per cent.

Le Pen recently changed her party's name from National Front in an attempt to move away from the far-right party's racist and anti-Semitic roots.</s>Macron himself warned against the rise of extremism on the right in Europe just days before the arrests were made.

Six individuals have been arrested by French authorities in what appears to have been an alleged plot against that nation’s centrist President Emmanuel Macron, law enforcement in that country reported on Tuesday.

Five male suspects and one female suspect were arrested in three different locations across France. Arrests were made near Lyon; near the border with Luxembourg and Germany in Moselle; and in Ille-et-Vilaine as well, according to reporting from NBC News.

Macron was himself not far from Moselle when the arrests were made, visiting sites in Verdun while commemorating the 100 year anniversary of the end of World War I. American President Donald Trump is also scheduled to visit France this weekend to take part in said ceremonies.

Authorities said that the suspects had an “imprecise and loosely-formed” plan to take “violent action” against the French president.

The ages of the suspects ranged from ages 20 to 60, and the Independent further reported that the leader of the group was caught with a handgun (gun ownership is rare in France, and ownership of such a weapon is typically restricted to those who use them for hunting, according to the Washington Post). Some news outlets also reported that the individuals arrested harbored far-right wing viewpoints.

Right-wing extremism was a topic of concern that Macron himself addressed just last week. The French president made clear that the conditions facing his nation today are similar in scope to what happened in the run-up to the years before the second World War.

“In a Europe that is divided by fears, nationalist assertion and the consequences of the economic crisis, we see almost methodically the rearticulation of everything that dominated the life of Europe from post–World War I to the 1929 crisis,” Macron said just days before the arrests were made, according to reporting from Newsweek.

His words are a far cry from what U.S. President Trump has said in recent weeks. After a right-wing terrorist sent pipe bomb devices to various liberal and anti-Trump individuals across the nation late last month, several commentators suggested Trump’s rhetoric was partly to blame for inspiring that individual, Cesar Sayoc, who is a strong Trump loyalist. Trump dismissed the notion that his words inspired hatred, and instead blamed the “fake news media” for fanning the flames of hate.

“A lot of reporters are creating violence by not writing the truth,” Trump said last month to reporters before attending a campaign rally, according to reporting from the New York Post. “If the media would write correctly and accurately and fairly, you’d have a lot less violence in the country.”

Trump did not explain which stories the news media were reporting on that were false, or that made things more violent in America.</s>France’s President Emmanuel Macron has waded onto controversial ground by praising a First World War general who subsequently collaborated with the Nazis in the Second World War.

Marshal Philippe Petain led the French army to victory in Verdun in 1916, but gained infamy and a conviction for treason for his actions as leader of Vichy France in 1940 to 1944. French President Emmanuel Macron, right, walks at the cemetery by the Ossuary of Douaumont near Verdun (Francois Mori/AP)

Mr Macron said today in Charleville-Mezieres that Petain deserved praise for being “a great soldier” in the First World War, although he took “fatal choices during the Second World War”.

Petain was complicit in the 1942 deportation of 13,000 Jews from France in the Vel’ d’Hiv round-up that was part of the Holocaust.</s>PARIS (AP) — French security agents have arrested six people on preliminary terrorism charges for allegedly plotting to attack French President Emmanuel Macron, according to a French judicial official.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the allegations, said intelligence agents detained the six in three widely scattered regions, including the Alps, Brittany and near the Belgian border. He said the plan to target the French president appeared to be vague and unfinalized but violent.

Authorities released no further details about the six suspects and did not say if they were suspected of working together or separately.

French presidents have been targeted several times over the decades, including in 2002 when a far-right sympathizer tried to attack President Jacques Chirac on the Champs-Elysees Avenue in Paris during Bastille Day celebrations.

Macron was in the northeastern French city of Verdun on Tuesday as part of centenary commemorations for the end of World War I.

The suspected plot was uncovered days before U.S. President Donald Trump and dozens of other world leaders are due in France for commemorations this weekend of the signing 100 years ago of the Nov. 11 armistice that ended World War I.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>French President Emmanuel Macron throws a wreath of flowers at Les Entonnoirs, a site of mines war, in Les Eparges, eastern France, Tuesday Nov. 6, 2018, as part of the ceremonies marking the centenary of the end of First World War. A French judicial official says six people have been arrested on preliminary terrorism charges, suspected of plotting to attack French President Emmanuel Macron. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP) (Ludovic Marin)
Based upon information from the General Directorate for Internal Security, French authorities arrest five men and one woman suspected of planning an attack on French President Emmanuel Macron. Police report the suspects are radical far right citizens.