Maoists kidnap Renault man

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32862, 10 March 1972, Page 9

Maoists kidnap Renault man

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright; PARIS, March 9. Maoist militants holding a Renault motor company official captive have offered to let workers at the firm’s giant plant in Paris decide his fate.

The New Popular Resistance, clandestine group which claimed responsibility for kidnapping 63-year-old Robert Nogrette at gunpoint early yesterday, called late last night for a workers’ assembly at Renault to discuss his release.

In a message issued ! through a small Leftist news service founded recently by the philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, the kidnappers promised to abide by any de- , cision taken by the workers. But some uncertainty about the intentions of the kidnappers came early today with a police report that the porter of the building where Mr Nogrette lives had received an anonymous telephone call saying that he would be freed this morning. No other details about this call were immediately available from police, who have launched a big manhunt for the New Popular Resistance. The group won notoriety two years ago when it kidnapped Gaullist deputy, Mr Michel de Grailly, and beat him up, saying its action was a warning to the “bosses.” The offer to let Renault workers decide came amid mounting anger among Frenchmen at the abduction

of Mr Nogrette, who handles dismissals of workers at the Renault plant A dismissed Maoist militant was shot dead by security guards during a demonstration at the factory last month. Among those who reacted strongly against the kidnapping were the Communistled C.G.T. federation, which has a strong base at Renault, and the usually militant C.F.D.T. federation. A third union, the C.G.C., which groups white collar workers at Renault, called a two-hour nation-wide strike tomorrow and a token stoppage today to protest against the kid-

napping. Mr Nogrette last night sent a message to his wife saying that he was safe and well. In the taped message, sent to Radio Luxemburg from Mr Sartre’s agency, he said: “I think I am here to force the release of those youths imprisoned after the Renault incidents.”

This was a reference to five Maoist militants arrested after the clashes at Renault on February 25 in which the dismissed workers, 23-year-old Pierre Ovemey, was killed. The kidnappers themselves had earlier issued a message demanding that their five colleagues be freed.