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Three out-of-state men arrested in a Bridgeport apartment raid days before the NATO summit were charged with conspiracy to commit terrorism, providing material support for terrorism and possession of an explosive or incendiary device, their attorney and police said early Saturday.

The arrests were the result of a month-long investigation into a group suspected of making Molotov cocktails — crude bombs usually created by filling glass bottles with gasoline, according to law enforcement sources and police records obtained by the Tribune.

But the National Lawyers Guild, which is representing the men, said they were simply NATO protesters who had beer-making equipment when the apartment they were staying at was raided overnight Wednesday.

The men also were in a car that was stopped by police a week ago, leading to a YouTube video of the stop that has prompted protesters to complain Chicago Police were harassing the occupants, said Sarah Gelsomino, a lawyer with the guild.

She called the charges "an attempt to continue this intimidation campaign on activists. Charging these people who are here to peacefully protest against NATO for terrorism, when in reality the police have been terrorizing activists in Chicago, is absolutely outrageous."

The three men being held at the Harrison District police station were charged late Friday night and were scheduled to appear in bond court Saturday afternoon, said Chicago police Lt. Kenneth Stoppa. He identified them as Brian Church, 20, of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Jared Chase, 24, of Keene, N.H., and Brent Vincent Betterly, 24, of Oakland Park, Fla.

Chase's uncle, Michael Chase of Westmoreland, N.H., said he was shocked to learn of the charges against his nephew, who he said quit his job as a cook at a Boston restaurant in the fall to join the Occupy movement.

"He can be confrontational," Chase said of his nephew. "If he's pressed, he tends to lash out. I really can't envision him doing this on his own, coming up with an idea to do something that radical."

Police earlier Friday released from custody — without charging — six of the nine people who were swept up in the late-night Wednesday raid of a Bridgeport apartment building. Several are affiliated with the Occupy movement and had arrived in Chicago in recent weeks from California, North Carolina, Massachusetts and elsewhere.

Details of the investigation remain murky. Police and Cook County prosecutors have declined to publicly discuss or even acknowledge the arrests in the 1000 block of West 32nd Street even as the conduct of officers has come under criticism from those involved in the raid. More at the link.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/natosummit/chi-3-men-face-terrorism-charges-stemming-from-prenato-raid-20120519,0,7539852.story?page=1Three out-of-state men arrested in a Bridgeport apartment raid days before the NATO... more

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