French minister says 43 airport workers denied security clearance

French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy said on Saturday that 43 workers at the Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris had been stripped of their security clearance.

"I cannot accept that people with radical practices work in an airport," Sarkozy said at the Sorbonne University, which was holding a day of debates with a number of officials.

"Regarding those with access to runways, it is our duty to ensure they don't have links near or far to radical organizations, " the minister said, referring to the recent removal of security clearances for several dozen mostly Muslim airport workers at the Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris.

Sarkozy said authorities had clear reasons to deny them security badges.

A trade union has filed a discrimination complaint on behalf of Muslim workers.

Source: Xinhua