QUEBEC – Canada’s international reputation will suffer after it detained demonstrators at customs and treated them like potential criminals, organizers of a protest summit said Monday.

Two Mexican university students were detained in Toronto while many protesters had their luggage searched and were subjected to hour-long questioning, said organizers of the five-day People’s Summit of the Americas.

“Canada has a prestigious reputation on the international stage for democracy and human rights,” said Hector de la Cueva, an official for a Mexican group opposed to free trade.

“Now they are showing the contrary. They’re showing the kinds of things we might see sometimes in the south [of the Americas].”

About 2,000 delegates from across the Americas will be attending the summit. It will include a giant protest Saturday and an assortment of symposiums on the potential dangers of international trade.

The event is being held as a counterpoint to the official Summit of the Americas, a meeting this coming weekend at which 34 countries will seek to form a giant free trade pact.