The atmosphere is heavy, very heavy, when Emmanuel Macron arrives, shortly after 9 p.m., at the colleague from Bois d'Aulne, in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines).
At the end of the afternoon, a teacher was beheaded not far from the establishment.
The president is surrounded by ministers Jean-Michel Blanquer (National Education) and Marlène Schiappa (Citizenship), soon joined by Gerald Darmanin (Interior) as soon as he returned from a trip to Morocco.
The prosecutor of the anti-terrorism prosecution, Jean-François Ricard, is also there.
A visit to signify that "all those who hold the Republic [...] will stand together", in the words of the president.
"They will not pass", insists the Head of State on several occasions, promising that "obscurantism and the violence which accompanies it will not win".
At the colleague of the Bois d'Aulne, at the beginning of the evening, faces are closed.
The emotion, palpable.
The Head of State interacts with local authorities, mayors and prefects, college staff, principal and teachers, and the police.
“One of our fellow citizens was assassinated today because he was teaching, because he was teaching students the freedom of expression, the freedom to believe or not to believe.
Our compatriot was cowardly attacked, the victim of a characterized Islamist terrorist attack, ”says Emmanuel Macron, speaking at the end of these exchanges.
The Head of State pays homage to the principal, to the professors, "the most beautiful job there is, to make free citizens".
"I want to say this evening to all the teachers in France that we are with them," he insists.
The president also salutes "the exemplary courage" of the police.
"It's not just any attack"
During his visit to the interministerial crisis unit at Place Beauvau, where the Prime Minister, Jean Castex, and the Minister of Justice, Eric Dupond-Moretti, also converged, the voices, the faces, also spoke of the seriousness of the moment.
“It's not just any attack, it's not just any symbols.
This affects schools, those who were called the black hussars, those who carry the values of secularism, those whose role is to enlighten people's minds.
It concerns the freedom of the press, with the cartoons.
It is a highly symbolic act ”, decrypts a faithful of the president.
"It is no coincidence that this evening, says the Head of State, it is a teacher that the terrorist killed, because he wanted to bring down the Republic in its values, the Enlightenment".
Two weeks, to the day, have passed since the Head of State's speech on "Islamist separatism".
In Les Mureaux, a few kilometers away, Emmanuel Macron had hardened his words.
"Measures had been announced", recalls his entourage, to better signify that "there is no fatality", that "there can be no fatality", to see bloody attacks repeated sadly.
Tragically.
Launching a new call for "unity", Emmanuel Macron himself assured: "The acts are there and they will be there, with firmness.
Quick, adding "This battle is ours, and it is existential."