ST PAUL (Minnesota) - POLICE on Tuesday arrested scores of demonstrators marching against President George W. Bush's policies in a rally outside the Republican convention, bringing to nearly 300 the number of people held in two days of clashes.

Policemen wearing masks and other riot gear used tear gas and chemical sprays to disperse hundreds of defiant protestors outside the convention center in St Paul, Minnesota.

Some of the demonstrators were seen in television footage hurling back teargas cannisters to the police.

Most of the protestors thronged the convention center after attending a rally organized by the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign that led to a march along the city's streets, monitored by two helicopters overhead.

A group of protestors tussled with mounted police and those in riot gear and were quickly isolated from the crowd and subdued with plastic handcuffs, an AFP correspondent saw.

Mr Matthew Bombrom, assistant chief of St Paul police told AFP just before the protestors were teagassed that 'about 280 folks or something like that' had been arrested for rioting since the Republic convention opened on Monday.

On the opening day, about 10,000 people demonstrated, calling for an end to the US-led Iraq war.

They later splintered off and became confrontational and sometimes violent.

Some protestors smashed the windows of retail and bank buildings while others challenged police by blocking roads, local newspapers reported, quoting officials. Dozens were pepper-sprayed and tear-gassed.

Mr Bombrom said some people held on lesser charges were released within a few hours, while others would be charged with rioting which carries a jail sentence of between one to five years.

'We are reviewing all reports to make sure we did not arrest anyone improperly. We are checking videos. We are checking statements. Once that's done we will make a final determination,' Mr Bombrom said.

As Mr Bush on Tuesday urged Republicans to rally behind their White House hopeful John McCain in a speech by video link to the party convention, rights groups representing the poor attacked the incumbent leader for his 'failed' health, welfare and housing policies.

'We are here today to demand that our government do something about the human rights violations people living in America experience everyday - homelessness, hunger and no access to health care,' said Ms Cheri Honkala, national organizer of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign.

'Stop the war in Iraq and bring the God damn money home,' she said, referring to the more than US$400 billion (S$574 billion) Washington has spent on the war by the most conservative tally.

Broader estimates say the total bill could surpass US$3 trillion.

Ms Melida Arredondo, the stepmother of a US marine killed in Iraq, led the march with a mock coffin of her 20-year-old son, Alex, draped in US flag with his uniform and boots.

'He joined the war because he could not afford to go to school. He thought the financial benefits he would get by joining the army would see him through school,' Ms Arrendondo said.

Also in the forefront of the protests were handicapped children and disabled soldiers, holding various posters including 'Arrest Bush', "Healthcare now' and 'Not another 100 years - end the war'. Republican hawk McCain has said US troops could spend 'maybe 100' years in Iraq. -- AFP