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I am certain it is mere coincidence that every time peaceful protesters plan a major action, police announce a vile conspiracy to blow things up. And it is even more of a coincidence that the conspirators claim to have been baited into such plans by undercover agents, who have even been known to supply material with which they can blow things up.

Because if it was not a coincidence, we'd have to admit that our own government is working against our ability to seek redress for grievances, and that couldn't possibly be true. The good guys always win, right?

Lawyers for three protesters arrested on terrorist-related charges ahead of the Nato summit have accused police of entrapping them and encouraging an alleged bomb-making effort.

The three were arrested on Wednesday night when members of the Chicago police department battered their way into an apartment in the Bridgeport area of the city.

According to court documents released on Saturday, the three men considered targeting Barack Obama's re-election headquarters and the home of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel.

The Chicago police department said the men, described as self-proclaimed anarchists and members of the "Black Bloc" movement that has disrupted international gatherings in the past, were arrested on Wednesday and charged on Friday with conspiracy to commit terrorism, providing material support for terrorism and possession of an explosive incendiary device.

The three men charged were listed as Brian Church, 22, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Jared Chase, 27, of Keene, New Hampshire, and Brent Betterly, 24, from Massachusetts.

At a hearing on Saturday bail was set at $1.5m for each of the three. Their next court appearance is on Tuesday.

Supporters of the three men disputed the charges, saying the men had come to protest at the Nato summit peacefully and that the police had confused beer-making equipment with explosives.

A lawyer for the three, Michael Deutsch, said undercover police officers had entrapped them by infiltrating the group and encouraging the bomb-making effort. The Chicago police department declined to comment on the tactics employed in the case.

The Cook County state attorney's office said the three men had other weapons including a mortar, knives and a hunting bow. It said they considered attacking police stations and cars in Chicago to disrupt police operations for the two-day Nato summit that begins on Sunday.

A mortar? A kitchen mortar? Knives and a hunting bow? Yeah, they sound like hardened terrorists to me! Imagine. You can carry a loaded handgun to a presidential appearance, but apparently you can't have knives or a hunting bow without being charged with a terrorist conspiracy.

"Some of the proposed targets included campaign headquarters of US President Barack Obama, the personal residence of Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and certain downtown financial institutions," the court papers said.

On Saturday several hundred activists protested outside Emanuel's home. The event was peaceful.

"The men had been making Molotov cocktails out of empty beer bottles filled with gasoline and fitted with cut bandanas for fuses," Cook County state attorney Anita Alvarez told a news conference after the bond hearing.

"It is pretty clear from the evidence they were making the bombs," Alvarez said. "There was a lot of discussion about making these Molotov cocktails and what they were going to do with them."

I wonder who encouraged them to make those bombs? I guess we'll find out at the trial, because as we know, police officers never, ever lie.