Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams has been freed from custody after being questioned for four days about a murder dating back to 1972.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland announced his release in a tweet and said a file will be sent to the Public Prosecution Service, which will decide whether there is a case to answer.
A handful of protesters holding placards stood outside Antrim police station bearing messages such as "Justice for Jean" and "Justice for Victims".
Mr Adams has yet to emerge from the building.
Martin McGuinness insists Mr Adams arrest was politically motivated He had spent a fourth day being questioned by detectives about the murder of mother-of-10 Jean McConville, who was snatched from her home in front of her children.
On Friday, officers were granted another 48 hours to quiz the republican party leader at Antrim police station.
They had to charge him or release him by 8pm tonight.
Mr Adams, 65, had been questioned for up to 17 hours a day, Sky News understands.
He vehemently denies allegations that he ordered Ms McConville's murder.
No one has ever been charged with the 37-year-old's killing.
Her body was finally discovered in 2003 on a beach 50 miles from her home.
The decision on whether to proceed with a prosecution of Mr Adams would normally rest with the region's Director of Public Prosecutions Barra McGrory QC.
Peter Robinson has accused Sinn Fein of "bully boy tactics" But he is likely to delegate the case to another senior PPS official, as he has previously acted as Mr Adams' lawyer.
Labour's former Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain told Sky News Mr Adams' arrest meant British troops investigated over the Bloody Sunday killings would now have to be detained.
His arrest has led to a growing political row, with Northern Ireland's First Minister Peter Robinson accusing Sinn Fein of attempting to blackmail police.
The party had warned it would review its support for policing if Mr Adams was charged.
Mr Robinson said: "The PSNI must not be the subject of republican bully boy tactics."
Senior Sinn Fein member Gerry Kelly told reporters outside Antrim police station he had seen Mr Adams and he was being treated well.
"Like myself and all the members of Sinn Fein, he believes that the timing of this was political, that the extension of it was political and he's worried about the damage that it might be doing to the image of policing as well and that it's been mishandled in that type of fashion," he said.
Speaking at the unveiling of a mural of Mr Adams in Belfast on Saturday, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness alleged some people in the PSNI are "hostile" to the peace process.
He said: "In my view this is a failed attempt at the replay of the effort in 1978 to charge Gerry Adams with membership of the IRA. That case was based on hearsay, gossip and newspaper articles.
"It failed then and it will fail now.
"Thirty-six years later those within the PSNI who are hostile to the peace process are using the same old dirty tricks. They are deliberately and cynically exploiting the awful killing of Jean McConville and the grief and hurt inflicted on her family."
Sinn Fein's decision to sign up to support the PSNI in 2007 was viewed as a major milestone in the peace process.
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