The World - News from Jan. 29, 1987

Three directors of Belgium’s major arms manufacturer were released after being held hostage for 24 hours by factory workers angry over job layoffs. The Belga news agency said the directors of Fabrique Nationale were freed after they promised workers that they will reopen talks on compensation for employees recently dismissed. The three men were held at the company’s Zutendaal plant in eastern Belgium, where they had gone to discuss a severance plan for the 133 dismissed employees. Protesting the plan as unrealistic, workers had staged a sit-in at the plant.