EasyJet has denied claims that it used armed police to segregate and remove passengers from a flight because they were Jewish.

It is understood that a passenger on a flight from Barcelona to Paris refused to sit down and fasten his seatbelt when the plane was on the runway before take-off.

The plane returned to the terminal, where all 180 passengers were removed.

It is understood the passenger was arrested by police.

According to an EasyJet spokesman, other passengers who had been “behaving in a disruptive manner” were spoken to by police.

JP Updates and other news sites had reported that a group of Jews on the flight had been singled out and “treated unfairly” by airline staff. EasyJet dismissed the reports as completely inaccurate.

In a statement, a spokesman for the British company said: “Whilst such incidents are rare we take them very seriously and do not tolerate abusive or threatening behaviour on board.

"Due to this issue a replacement crew was needed to operate the flight and as a result, the departure of the flight was delayed.

“Passengers were held in a gate area at the request of the police for a short period of time to assess those responsible for the incident. The police took a number of passengers for questioning.

“Please feel assured that at EasyJet, we do not discriminate against any individual - passengers or staff members. To confirm, we have a zero tolerance towards discrimination of any kind.”