France's Sarkozy defends airport ban on 72 Muslims

VILLEPINTE, France, Nov 4 (Reuters) French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy defended a decision to bar 72 Muslim staff from Paris's main airport over fears they pose a security threat, saying the move was a necessary precaution.

The airport workers, most of whom are baggage handlers, have had their passes granting them access to restricted areas of Charles de Gaulle airport removed in May. They cannot work without them.

''Every time we remove a badge, it's because we have reasons to justify it,'' Sarkozy told reporters yesterday, while visiting the Paris suburb of Villepinte.

The FO trade union has denounced the mass removal of clearances and has called a meeting of various airport unions on Tuesday to discuss possible strike action.

''There have clearly been excessive badge withdrawals,'' said Didier Dague, deputy secretary of the FO-Air France union, adding that some staff had had passes removed because of previous misdemeanours such as traffic offences.

The head of a local government office which deals with the airport, Jacques Lebrot, told Reuters last month that the decision to strip staff of passes was based on information gleaned from an anti-terrorist police probe.

''It is perfectly normal that the police services carry out inquiries and only accredit people about whom we are certain,'' Sarkozy said yesterday.

Some of those who have lost their badges had made repeated visits to Pakistan and French media reported that one was a friend of Richard Reid, the British ''shoe bomber'' who is serving a life prison term in the United States for trying to blow up a Paris-Miami flight.

The security clampdown came some four months after far-right politician Philippe de Villiers published a book alleging that numerous Islamist radicals worked at Charles de Gaulle airport and were planning terror attacks.

Nine airport employees have challenged the decision in an administrative tribunal which is expected to rule on November 10.

Reuters SBA VP0424