The Associated Press reports:

43 French bag handlers denied clearance

Authorities rescinded the security clearance of 43 baggage handlers at France's main international airport due to suspicions they were connected with radical organizations, a top government minister said Saturday….

"I cannot accept that people with radical practices" work in an airport, the minister said, adding that it was his "duty to ensure that (workers) do not have any kind of links with radical organizations."

Sarkozy also said 18 imams preaching a radical brand of Islam had been expelled from France since January. It was the first official figure on the number of expulsions of imams suspected of passing a radical message to the faithful.

Lawyers have said the baggage handlers, who worked for subcontractors at the airport, were likely to lose their jobs because such work depends on security clearances. Four of them filed a joint complaint in the past week, alleging they had been unfairly associated with terrorism because they are Muslims, attorney Eric Moutet said Friday….

Jacques Lebrot, an official who oversees Charles de Gaulle airport, told The Associated Press on Friday the cases were "linked to terrorism" and that the decision to deny clearance followed recommendations by France's anti-terrorism coordination unit, UCLAT, as part of an 18-month investigation.