France terror latest: Macron says ‘we won’t give in’ after Nice beheading attack and Avignon gunman death

A French policeman pushes bystanders back off the street after a knife attack in Nice (AFP via Getty Images)

France is reeling from a string of attacks feared to be terror-related, with a woman beheaded and two others killed in Nice and a gunman shot in Avignon.

The man reportedly shouted “Allahu akbar” (God is great), a religious phrase often co-opted by Islamist extremists, before carrying out the attack.

Hours later, a man wielding a handgun was shot dead by police near Avignon, around 250km away. He is believed to have been a member of the far-right Génération identitaire movement.

After the attacks, president Emmanuel Macron said France had been attacked "over our values, for our taste for freedom, for the ability on our soil to have freedom of belief", and pledged thousands more soldiers would be deployed to protect key sites, such as places of worship and schools.

"And I say it with lots of clarity again today: we will not give any ground," he added.

Mr Macron also tweeted: “In France, there is only one community - the national community,” and “Whatever your religion, believer or not, we must unite at these times.” He told the people of Nice: ”We won’t give in to any terrorist thinking."