French rail firm accused of banning blacks for Peres visit

The French national railway company ordered the removal of North African and black workers from a station during a visit by President Shimon Peres out of fear that they may have been Muslims, British media reported late Sunday.

An official complaint by the SUD-Rail transport union charged that steps were taken to prevent any Muslim employees from welcoming Peres, the Daily Mail reported.

Peres arrived at the Gare du Nord station in Paris on March 8 during a European tour aimed at promoting peace between Israel and the Arab world. The president, along with an Israeli delegation, was met at the station by representatives from SNCF, France’s national railway and ITIREMIA, the baggage-handling company.

According to the report, the day before the visit, a manager at the station announced that all black staff and those of North African descent were to be excluded from the proceedings.

SUD-Rail said in a statement that the management apparently made assumptions about religion “based on the appearance of the workers” and added that such practice is “unacceptable”.

According to the report, SNCF first tried to put the blame with security demands from the French Interior Ministry and the Israeli Embassy in Paris, both of which flatly denied any knowledge of the ban.

SNCF then admitted that the order came from its own management and that a full investigation will review the matter.

In 2011, the rail firm ended decades of silence by apologizing to Holocaust victims for the role it played in transporting Jews to Nazi death camps during World War II.

France has the largest Muslim population in Western Europe, numbering some six million, many of whom live in Paris and other major cities.