Tell us what the authorities are saying.

The authorities are treating this as a terrorist attack.

The wheels have been put in motion legally, and this is being looked into by investigators for the anti terror unit in France.

We've also heard from the mayor of Nice, Christian Estrosi, who has equally call this a terrorist attack and has called for a while places of worship in the city of needs to be closed.

Now we know Francis heading into a new national locked down, but we can imagine that restrictions are going to be even tighter in this following this President Emmanuel Macron has been attending an emergency meeting which was initially due to discuss the new coronavirus locked down which comes into place in France that midnight Thursday midnight tonight, but that the subject of that meeting has been switched to this new terror attack.

We also understand that the president will be heading down to lease later on today.

So clearly the government here has an awful lot on his hands.

But tensions have been running pretty high in France ever since a teacher was beheaded in France a few weeks ago on the alert.

Now clearly very high still, yes, we're just hearing that the president's Emmanuel Macron is in the Interior Ministry at the moment in Paris, where those crisis talks are underway.

The mayor of News, Katherine was very quick to say that this was a terror attack, wasn't he?

He was, indeed, and you have to understand that this mayor is someone who is very well known in France, on the right wing of the political spectrum, who's been very critical of the government's anti terror strategy and once the government to take a very firm hand on this.

Having said that from the elements that we know so far, this is what he is basing his statements on.

He says that the attack took place within the church.

Reports say that one woman, the federal one who's killed her throat cut that she was beheaded.

Also that to other people confirmed dead as well.

The mayor of niece has said that the Attackers were shouting Allah, black bar God is great in Arabic, so these are the elements that he is reporting basing it on.

And of course, we have seen recent terror attacks in France since the satirical newspaper Shall we have republished cartoons off the Prophet Mohammed, which has started a great deal of tensions on again, was cited as an attack or a few weeks ago.

It's the motive for killing the schoolteacher Senator Patty outside of Paris, after he showed those cartoons to his class in a civics lesson.

We're told that the suspected attacker in this incident in Nice has been shot and is now detained.

How clear is it whether this person was acting alone?

We don't know.

Officers are saying they are possibly looking into the possibility that the attacker had accomplices its very early stages of the moment.

We know that police say they neutralized the attacker, but that doesn't mean that this stage that he's been killed, we believe he's been injured and has been transported to hospital.

He's clearly no longer a threat.

He's under arrest, is in control of the authorities that they're going to be looking into the network that this attacker had what contacts he had with people leading up to this attack in these and they are leaving open the possibility at the moment that there was more than one attacker.

But they say the principal suspect has been disarmed, has been shot and wounded on, has been taken to hospital with police on.

We understand that other people were injured in addition to the three people who died.

What more do you know about that?

At the moment, we just know that there were several people who were injured.

In addition to the three people.

We're gonna have to look and see those casualty figures as we go through the day and very early days.

But the attack we understand took place inside the church.

They imagine there were a number of people inside the church at this stage, especially given that France was heading is heading into a national lock down.

So perhaps people inside the church they're worshiping ahead of that.

We don't know the numbers involved in this state, but no doubt authorities will be giving an update on that.

How visible is the security presence in Nice?

Ordinarily, Nice does have a high security presence because it has been the scene of previous attacks.

Remember the attacks on Bastille day a few years ago when many people were killed out on the prominent.

There's only when a man drove through the crowd.

They're killing them.

Eso that clearly raised the alert in the city.

There's also been other attacks with knives against police.

So France has been under a pretty high terror watch, generally since 2000 and 15 when they were very various deadly attacks on the Charlie Hebdo newspaper, of course, and then in New November 2015 very deadly attacks in Paris, on the Bataclan and bars and cafes in the capital.

Since then, it's been under on alone vigilance for terror attacks and in Isa's well, because it has been seen the previous attacks.

We're just looking at the Interior Ministry in Paris at the moment, the live pictures from the French capital, which is where Emmanuel Macron and his ministers are holding crisis talks.

But since some of our Patties death Catherine, there has been a reassertion of the rights to freedom of expression by by people from all political persuasions.

Hasn't yes.

This is a really big issue in France at the moment.

There's a reassertion, as you say of France's secular values.

So under Francis Walls, it's a lot.

It's a republic on X secular.

It's public spaces by law, must remain religious, religion free.

French people also have, under law the right to blaspheme.

So it is something of a core French value.

To be able to express yourself and to be able, Thio say things while they might be offensive to other religions.

And this, of course, has been reasserted recently with the killing of the teacher, some nobody who showed his civics class.

Those cartoons published by the Charlie had done newspaper, and it's become a major public debate.

And we've seen it spiral internationally as well, with several countries in the Islamic world condemning remarks by President Emmanuel Macron when he was paying homage to central Patty, saying that Francois not renounce showing these caricatures, it's become a real cultural flashpoint on it has very much been on the top of the agenda here, as well as forces for environments.

Catherine were very great for you talking to us here on BBC news.

Thank you very much.