PARIS, France: Paris' largest airport authorities have stripped several dozen employees - almost all Muslim - of their security badges in a crackdown against terrorism.

Four baggage handlers from Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris who lost their clearance filed a joint discrimination complaint this week, alleging they had been unfairly associated with terrorism because they are Muslims, their lawyers said.

Some had been in their jobs for up to five years.

The staff lost their security clearances - which allowed them to work in sensitive airport customs zones - because France's Anti-terrorist Co-ordination Unit (UCLAT), as part of an 18-month investigation, said they posed "a risk to the airport's security" or were simply deemed "dangerous", said Jacques Lebrot, the airport's deputy chief of police.