Since Macron’s accession to the French Presidency in 2017, internal security, Republican values and radical Islam have joined immigration at the top of the French public debate. Under Macron, a more spontaneous, less detectable but more ubiquitous form of Islamist terrorism has succeeded the massive terrorist attacks of Charlie Hebdo, the Bataclan and Nice in 2015-16. Common crimes against people rose to unprecedented levels, especially against women and representatives of state authority such as police, firefighters, teachers, nurses and locally elected officials. Even political crises such as the “Gilets Jaunes” in 2019 and pension reform in 2023 fuelled increasing violence. Meanwhile, Republican values, especially laïcité – France’s strict version of secularism protecting freedom of religion and of conscience, as well as state neutrality vis-à-vis religion – have been increasingly challenged by the rise of radical Islam.