France: Sarkozy's Celebrity Links Under Fire

Nicolas Sarkozy's show business contacts came under renewed scrutiny yesterday after Corsica's police chief was sacked for failing to stop demonstrators briefly occupying a villa owned by one of the president's actor friends.

Asterix star Christian Clavier is among the Sarkozy in-crowd and supported him in last year's election. The sacking of Corsica's head of security, Dominique Rossi, over an incident at Clavier's summer house prompted opposition politicians to question whether Sarkozy had intervened in favor of his famous friend.

Corsican nationalists have long protested at "colonisation" by wealthy outsiders and this weekend, after a peaceful protest in the town of Porto-Vecchio, around 50 demonstrators arrived at Clavier's house and entered his garden. Clavier was out but gave orders for them to be served drinks. They sat by the pool for 20 minutes before leaving.

However, it emerged yesterday that Rossi had since been sacked after claims he had advance warning of the protest but decided not to intervene.

Centrist politician François Bayrou called his dismissal "disproportionate", Socialist leader François Hollande demanded an explanation, and in a rare defence of a police officer, Jean-Guy Talamoni, the Corsican nationalist leader, denounced the "arbitrary" decision.

The Elysée Palace declined to comment. A spokesman said the interior minister. Michèle Alliot-Marie, took the decision because of Rossi's "error in judgment", not because of Clavier's friendships.