The bells of the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Rouvray (Seine-Maritime) ring noon.
On the square, it's the calm of an ordinary Thursday in the "old" Saint-Etienne.
Two parishioners come out of the building.
They have just gathered for a few moments in tribute to the dead of the Nice attack but do not have the heart to discuss.
In the nearby parking lot, Mohammed, a 45-year-old father, agrees to share his feelings.
With a touch of bitterness: “Each time an attack takes place in a church, we will think of our city with the assassination of Father Hamel.
Obviously, it is horrible and we must fight against such acts.
But it's not just that here.
We live well together.
"
Hanging on the information boards at the entrance of the church, two sheets detail, with supporting photos, the small team that supports the local Catholic community.
Not for a long time.
The young person in charge of parish communication came to collect them.
Not to expose yourself more?
“Obviously we are worried.
And it resonates particularly here, that's for sure.
I don't know if we have become targets, but we have to be careful.
Father Hubert, vicar of the parish for three years, does not want this feeling of anxiety, even fear, to take over.
"Worried?
Obviously we are.
But no more than every citizen when he sees such barbarism.
Yesterday it was a teacher.
Today, the faithful in Nice… All of us must be worried for each other.
"
"We must not be divided"
Held at the Palais Bourbon by the debates on the evolution of the health crisis, the Communist deputy Hubert Wulfranc was also overtaken by the terrible news.
On July 26, 2016, when two assailants slaughtered Father Jacques Hamel in full office and seriously injured an 86-year-old parishioner, he was still the mayor of a town that overnight became the center of international news.
“There is no hierarchy in horror.
Each act of barbarism amazes us in the same way ”, assures the elected usually talkative and who this Thursday morning struggles to find the words.
“My concern is great.
Very tall.
The Republic is facing an abyss.
It must react but around its values.
We must not be divided.
"
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He was to go in a few days to Conflans-Sainte-Honorine (Yvelines) "to discuss among elected officials, to discuss, tell them how I experienced this attack, try to help them overcome this ordeal which affects an entire population" .
The reconfinement and the events in Nice may postpone this trip, but he hopes to get there quickly.
In the meantime, it is towards his city and its inhabitants that his thoughts took him this Thursday morning, towards his religious leaders also like the Archbishop of Rouen, Monsignor Lebrun, to whom he took the time to address "a fraternal support ”.
"It revives our own suffering which is inexhaustible"
An archbishop came to pray at the very beginning of the afternoon in the Saint-Etienne church in the company of Roselyne Hamel.
After having celebrated a necessarily special office this Thursday morning in the cathedral of Rouen, he had a lunch planned for a long time with the sister of the murdered priest.
Upset, Roselyne Hamel cannot hold back a few tears when she talks about the feeling that overwhelmed her when she heard the news when she arrived at the archdiocese.
“It rekindles our own suffering which is inexhaustible.
It is to the families of these people who died for no reason that my prayers go today.
And towards the Muslim community which once again will be singled out.
"
VIDEO. Nice attack: "We are going to protect churches and schools"
On the eve of a weekend of All Saints placed under high surveillance, Monsignor Lebrun assures that he is reassured that everything will be done by the prefecture to protect places of worship and cemeteries.
"We are targets, but no more than the symbols of the Republic targeted during the previous attack in Nice or the school as with the assassination of a teacher", underlines the man of the Church who wanted to pass a message of peace: “The God who asks to kill does not exist.
It is a decoy, worse an idol which embodies the spirit of Evil.
And this breeds intolerance, without the minimum of doubt that makes mankind.
With the help of unbelievers, we must bring this idol down […] Justice, peace, love will conquer.
We believe it, even if today we cry. ”
