The arrest of Gerry Adams, president of the Irish republican party Sinn Fein, is the work of the "dark side" of the Northern Irish police force, the region's deputy first minister said Thursday, according to dpa. Adams was still being questioned by police over the notorious 1972 murder of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of 10, after voluntarily going to a police station in Antrim late Wednesday. Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said former republicans who did not agree with Sinn Fein's involvement in the Northern Ireland peace process were co-operating with police in targeting the party and its leader. "It has been disappointing to see the efforts of some of those people together in consort with the dark side within policing," McGuinness, a former commander in the terrorist Irish Republican Army (IRA), said in Belfast. He also described the arrest as a "deliberate attempt" to influence the European and local elections, which are due to take place in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in three weeks' time. British Prime Minister David Cameron said there had been "absolutely no political interference" in the matter. Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny also rejected similar accusations, saying he hoped the Sinn Fein leader would answer questions "in the best way he can, to the fullest extent that he can." Peter Robinson, first minister of Northern Ireland and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, also gave his support to police and said the rule of law must be upheld. Sinn Fein has ministerial posts in the Northern Ireland government, as well as holding seats in the parliament of the Republic of Ireland. One of those seats is held by Adams for the county of Louth. contents would not be revealed until after they had died. -- SPA 20:51 LOCAL TIME 17:51 GMT تغريد
