Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams left the police station at Antrim, Northern Ireland, where he spent four days being questioned by police about a notorious 1972 murder related to the Troubles.  As he said before voluntarily going in, Adams emphatically stressed he is innocent of the allegations.

Adams had to leave out a back exit because angry unionists had gathered around the main exit and attempted to block it.  Cops in riot gear kept them busy while the Sinn Fein leader went out the other way.  Their connection to or concern with the murder of Jean McConville, a Roman Catholic Belfast resident wrongly suspected of being a police informer, was unclear. 

Later at the Balmoral Hotel in Belfast, Adams laid out his case.  He has never disassociated himself from the Irish Republican Army (IRA), but he remains fully committed to the political process in Northern Ireland. “The IRA is gone, it’s finished,” Adams added, “I want to make it clear that I support the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland)”.  That support is a key part of the Good Friday accords, which Adams helped to craft.

But at the same time, Adams reflected the concern that Sinn Fein expressed in his absence, that the arrest was suspiciously timed before crucial election and was the work of the “old guard” in the PSNI who aren’t as committed to the peace process and want to settle “old scores”.

 “They didn't have to use pernicious coercive legislation to deal with a legacy issue, even one as serious as this which I was voluntarily prepared to deal with.  They didn't have to do it in the middle of an election campaign,” Adams said.  “The old guard is against change.  Whether it is within the PSNI leadership, within elements of unionism or the far fringes of self-proclaimed but pseudo republicanism, they can't win.”

Police forwarded a file to prosecutors, who may or may not file charges against Gerry Adams at a later date.  Some reports have suggested that charges are unlikely.