Muslims working at French airport suspended over security

PARIS: Several dozen, mostly Muslim workers, have been barred from working at the Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris after police suspended their access badges for security reasons, a police official said on Friday. The staff lost their security clearances — which allowed them to work in sensitive airport customs zones — because France’s Anti-terrorist Coordination Unit (UCLAT) said they posed “a risk to the airport’s security” or were simply deemed “dangerous”, according to Jacques Lebrot, the airport’s deputy chief of police. “The fact of being a practicing Muslim was absolutely not a criteria” for suspending the workers’ clearance, Lebrot added. The decision came from the Seine-Saint-Denis police district where the airport is located. afp