Sinn Fein? They have gone away, you know.

[muppet]

Police are seeking more time to quiz Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, the deputy first minister has said.

"We have been told within the last couple of hours that the PSNI are seeking an extension to Gerry Adams' detention," said Martin McGuinness, his party colleague.

Mr Adams, 65, denies allegations that he was involved in the abduction and murder of Jean McConville in 1972.

He has been held for questioning at Antrim police station since Wednesday.

Mr Adams, former MP for West Belfast and an elected representative for County Louth in the Republic of Ireland, voluntarily presented himself for interview.

Mr McGuinness told a news conference: "Yesterday, I said that the timing of the arrest of Gerry Adams was politically motivated.

"Today's decision by the PSNI to seek an extension confirms me in my view."

A new mural of Gerry Adams is being painted on Belfast's Falls Road with the slogan 'Peacemaker, leader, visionary'
Mr McGuinness said the detention of Mr Adams was "a very, very serious situation".

Continue reading the main story
"
Start Quote
I believe Gerry Adams will be totally and absolutely exonerated"
End Quote
Martin McGuinness

Sinn Féin

He said Sinn Féin supported the progressive elements within the PSNI.

However, he added: "There is a cabal within the PSNI who have a different agenda, a negative and destructive agenda to both the peace process and to Sinn Féin."

He said Sinn Féin had been told this by "very senior members of the PSNI" who had coined the phrase the 'dark side'.

"Am I angry? Yes I am, but it's a very controlled anger," he said.

In regards to Sinn Féin's support for policing in Northern Ireland, he said that would continue if the situation with Mr Adams is resolved in a satisfactory manner.

"If it doesn't, we will have to review that situation."

He said Sinn Féin had been told this by "very senior members of the PSNI" who had coined the phrase the 'dark side'.

Amazing statement. I am beginning to doubt the choreography.

[AQMP]

.

Amazing statement. I am beginning to doubt the choreography.

So am I.  If this was ever in SF's control it has now gone beyond that.  My gut now tells me he will be charged...with something, investigations seem to be going beyond the McConville case?

[orangeman]

It's a concerning develiopment looking from the outside in.

But I still can't see Gerry getting charged.

[southdown]

If they had nothing on him he would have been released by now...

[Nally Stand]

If they had nothing on him he would have been released by now...

If it's politically motivated,  they'll hold him for every minute they can get away with.

[Hardy]

Police are seeking more time to quiz Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams, the deputy first minister has said.

"We have been told within the last couple of hours that the PSNI are seeking an extension to Gerry Adams' detention," said Martin McGuinness, his party colleague.

Mr Adams, 65, denies allegations that he was involved in the abduction and murder of Jean McConville in 1972.

He has been held for questioning at Antrim police station since Wednesday.

Mr Adams, former MP for West Belfast and an elected representative for County Louth in the Republic of Ireland, voluntarily presented himself for interview.

Mr McGuinness told a news conference: "Yesterday, I said that the timing of the arrest of Gerry Adams was politically motivated.

"Today's decision by the PSNI to seek an extension confirms me in my view."

A new mural of Gerry Adams is being painted on Belfast's Falls Road with the slogan 'Peacemaker, leader, visionary'
Mr McGuinness said the detention of Mr Adams was "a very, very serious situation".


Sinn Féin

He said Sinn Féin supported the progressive elements within the PSNI.

However, he added: "There is a cabal within the PSNI who have a different agenda, a negative and destructive agenda to both the peace process and to Sinn Féin."

He said Sinn Féin had been told this by "very senior members of the PSNI" who had coined the phrase the 'dark side'.

"Am I angry? Yes I am, but it's a very controlled anger," he said.

In regards to Sinn Féin's support for policing in Northern Ireland, he said that would continue if the situation with Mr Adams is resolved in a satisfactory manner.

"If it doesn't, we will have to review that situation."

Is this the only democracy in the world where the (joint) prime minister regularly challenges the conduct of the police force for which his government is responsible? In any other country, the slightest suggestion of lack of government confidence in the police would trigger a constitutional crisis. Then again, I suppose the North is a constitutional crisis in itself.

[AQMP]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-27256183

Interesting piece from the BBC's Mark Devenport.  Might give a clue as to why the PSNI require more time.

Any electoral fallout of Adams arrest depends on next step.

The arrest of the leader of a mainstream political party for questioning about the barbaric murder of a mother of 10 is such an unprecedented development that it's impossible to think that, in any other context, that party could avoid an electoral meltdown.  But of course Sinn Féin is no ordinary political party - its historic relationship with the IRA is well documented as is its crucial role in brokering the peace.  Sinn Féin voters can be assumed to take a sceptical view of any allegations aimed at their party leaders.  Even if they believe such claims to be true, they may have already factored in involvement with IRA violence as part and parcel of Northern Ireland's conflict and go on to engage in predictable "whataboutery" - what about the failure to hold inquiries into alleged collusion, what about unionist links to loyalist paramilitaries, and so on.

Assessing the political fallout is, therefore, not straightforward - not least because at the time of writing, Gerry Adams is still being interviewed. The consequences will depend on what happens next.  That said, Sinn Féin's hold on its Northern Ireland European parliament seat is so strong that it's hard to imagine anything shaking it.  Sinn Féin's surge in popularity south of the border (courtesy of the demise of the Irish Labour Party) has put the party on course for three European seats.  This southern support may prove more permeable than Sinn Féin's hold on its traditional northern strongholds - but equally, if Gerry Adams walks away with no charges arising, the party may attract some sympathy. It certainly hasn't wanted for publicity during this campaign.

The revelation, by Martin McGuinness, that detectives had been discussing Gerry Adams' own writings with the Sinn Féin president took my mind back to the late 1990s, when I spent some long hours in Belfast's Linenhall Library leafing through old copies of An Phoblacht and various other republican pamphlets as part of the research for Man of War, Man of Peace, the Gerry Adams biography I co-authored with David Sharrock. I don't know what kind of literary criticism the PSNI is engaging in, but, in his 1996 autobiography Before The Dawn, Gerry Adams said: "I must write nothing that would place in jeopardy the liberties or the lives of others" and the abduction and murder of Jean McConville did not merit a mention.

Given Mr Adams' regular denials of IRA membership, one route we and other journalists took was to examine the writings penned under his jail pseudonym of Brownie.  In a number of articles Brownie (described humorously by a fellow prisoner 'Solon' as "a lanky, thin bearded, boggin' excuse for a person") makes no bones about his IRA status.  In Before The Dawn, Gerry Adams incorporated a number of his Brownie articles into his account. However when I questioned him about this he insisted that Brownie was a corporate entity - a pseudonym shared by a number of inmates. Gerry Adams explained that any articles in An Phoblacht that contained clear references to IRA membership were the work of other inmates.  Of course, before we reached our conclusions in Man of War, Man of Peace, David and I talked to lots of others sources - fellow republicans, and police, Army and government sources.

However, for all you literary sleuths out there, I invite you to ponder the fate of a hedgehog found by Brownie whilst on 'sentry duty' in the Whiterock area of west Belfast in the early 1970s.  Brownie brings it back to a safe house and drops it on the sofa before announcing he's going to set the hedgehog free.  "If the Paras catch you, it'll look good in the papers," the woman of the house interjects, "IRA man caught with a hedgehog".  So who wrote this? Brownie Gerry or Brownie AN Other? If it's the latter I think he should sue for royalties as the same piece appears under Gerry Adams' own name in his book Cage Eleven with the single alteration that the initials IRA have been edited out. This may have been a judicious alteration for reasons now under discussion, but rather ruins the hedgehog joke.

[Hardy]

The whining about the timing of the arrest "four weeks before an election" is amusing.

What if the PSNI say they did it now because they didn't want to be seen to do it too close to the election?

[trileacman]

If they had nothing on him he would have been released by now...

If it's politically motivated,  they'll hold him for every minute they can get away with.

Who specifically do you think is politically motivating it then? Spare the generalities, if you had to pick the person/persons responsible who would they be and what do they gain from it?

[AQMP]

The whining about the timing of the arrest "four weeks before an election" is amusing.

What if the PSNI say they did it now because they didn't want to be seen to do it too close to the election?

Hardy, though I just looove conspiracy theories, I don't think the timing is hugely significant.  As muppet said earlier if you wanted to scupper SF's electoral standing you'd do it before the General Elections/Assembly Elections, nor Euro/Council elections.  Anyway, in the North at least, I think this will encourage the vote to get out on 22 May to show solidarity with the Great Leader.

[Syferus]

Sinn Fein? They have been put away, you know.

[trileacman]

In honesty they couldn't really have picked a much more convenient time for Sinn Fein. No-one gives a f**k about European elections and anyone who was gonna vote SF in the local's is going to still do that. Do you really think they'll be haemorrhaging votes to the DUP or Alliance because of this? Bullshit, they'll lose a few hundred votes, 1000 max I would think. Would have been alot more damaging in the face of a Dail or Assembly election.

[Rossfan]

Sinn Fein? They have been put away, you know.

Hopefully you'll be next Syfín.

[Nally Stand]

If they had nothing on him he would have been released by now...

If it's politically motivated,  they'll hold him for every minute they can get away with.

Who specifically do you think is politically motivating it then? Spare the generalities, if you had to pick the person/persons responsible who would they be?

"Who specifically"? "Pick the person"? Are you for real?

Do you remember the 'Save Dave' campaign? Do you remember when the media were ready and waiting to capture carefully choreographed images of 18 RUC landrovers full of RUC men arriving to seize documents from SF's big 'spyring'? The same seized documents were later revealed to have been two CDs. One a copy of MS Word, one a copy of a SF election manifesto. Both discretely returned days later when the damage had been achieved. The high profile arrest associated with this? That of Dennis Donaldson, later revealed to have been the security force's 'man on the inside'. It was the single biggest farce of political policing in years. Everyone saw right through it. Now since when were escapades like this every easily attributed to a specifically named person. Sometimes it's just abundantly clear the motives and the various groups which stand to gain though. Like "stormontgate", most people appear to be seeing right through this latest playact. Worth remembering that this investigation's progress is based on the "Boston tapes" - recorded allegations by deceased people who can't expand on their claims and who, to a man/woman, despised Gerry Adams.

[muppet]

.

Amazing statement. I am beginning to doubt the choreography.

So am I.  If this was ever in SF's control it has now gone beyond that.  My gut now tells me he will be charged...with something, investigations seem to be going beyond the McConville case?

Whatever the rest of us think, the SF leadership saying this is 'politically motivated' is using rhetoric about as benign as they could possibly use and still appease their own support. Politicians accusing people of playing politics isn't really a shock to the average non-SF Joe either.

But if the choreography is off, then I think we should all be concerned.

If the PSNI screw this up there could be massive consequences.