Protests at day one of North America summit

MONTEBELLO, Canada (AFP) - Thousands of protestors on Monday clashed with riot police at this log cabin inn near Ottawa, decrying a summit of North American leaders on bolstering security and economic ties.

With bursts of drums and kazoos, demonstrators taunted host Prime Minister Stephen Harper, US President George W. Bush and Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, at this third installment of the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) summit.

Dressed as clowns and guerillas, protestors chanted "Bush go home!" and waved "No to Americanada" placards along the tree-lined shores of the Ottawa River, 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Canada's capital.

Riot police, using tear gas, pepper spray and batons, blocked an estimated 5,000 demonstrators at the gates of the historic cedar Chateau Montebello, where Group of Seven leaders met in 1981.

Louis Banal, a Quebec police spokesman, said one protestor was arrested, and two officers were injured in the melee.

The summit aims to harmonize North American trade rules and security following the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, when closed US borders cost all three countries billions of dollars in lost trade.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon was forced to clip his visit to Canada short as powerful Hurricane Dean roared towards the Mexican coast.

Calderon said he would depart after the summit and return to his country on Tuesday ahead of schedule to monitor the advance of the giant storm, which is expected to hit the Yucatan peninsula early Tuesday.

Monday night, the three leaders dined together and would hear from the North American Competitiveness Council on Tuesday on proposals to boost the continent's competitive edge in key sectors.

On the summit sidelines, Bush and Harper discussed border inspections, bilateral trade, the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, and Canada's disputed Arctic claim, a senior Canadian official said.

Harper also informed Bush that Canada would only extend its troop deployment in Afghanistan beyond February 2009 with "parliamentary endorsement," she said, adding. "That doesn't preclude that that endorsement wouldn't be forthcoming."