Two men shot during confrontations between Police and groups in the funeral procession yesterday, were admitted to the Georgetown Hospital.

Police said Buxton was "a rather hostile area" last night and advised motorists and others travelling on the main road through the village "to do so with extreme caution".

"The situation is fluid", Police said in a press release.

Traffic came to a halt on the road east and west of the village as the funeral procession headed to Buxton from Georgetown and witnesses said that for a while, protesters kept Police at bay, shooting and hurling bottles and other objects at them.

"We have retaken the ground and traffic is proceeding, with guidance, through the Buxton area", Police reported last night.

Persons able to travel last night, said vehicles were driving along the Buxton main road in batches as Police, backed by soldiers deployed in the area, kept a close watch.

Police Commissioner, Mr. Floyd McDonald, said Police last night patched parts of the highway dug up by groups from the funeral procession so that vehicles could pass through Buxton.

Blair was buried following a procession organised through some streets of Georgetown and along the main East Coast Demerara highway to Buxton by the main Opposition People's National Congress Reform (PNC/R).

The Police Force had called on the PNC/R to ensure that order was maintained during its procession for the funeral of Blair.

In a press release over the weekend, Police had called on the organisers "to ensure that the activities are conducted in an orderly manner so that no damage or loss of property or injury is suffered by any person who may have to commute during the time of this event."

In the procession which saw hundreds moving through the streets of Georgetown on foot and others in motor vehicles as they followed the hearse carrying Blair's body were PNC/R leader, Mr. Desmond Hoyte; party Chairman, Mr. Robert Corbin and General Secretary, Mr. Oscar Clarke among others.

Throughout the 12-mile journey to Buxton, the crowd chanted slogans condemning the shooting of Blair and demanding justice, with Police outriders and escorts maintaining a visible presence along the way.

The first stop in Buxton was made at Blair's home for private viewing.

However, events took a drastic turn after the cortege left the parents' home and moved to Buxton Middle Walk Dam.

Police said there were several incidents of criminal activity, including sporadic gunfire.

A plainclothes Policeman from Buxton, was allegedly attacked and assaulted by two persons at around 15:40 hrs, one of them hitting him with a gun while he was on the Buxton Middle Walk Dam. His little daughter was with him at the time, Police said.

Shortly after, the sound of gunfire was heard from a point south of the East Coast main road, but closer to the Railway Embankment road, the press release said.

At about 16:40 hrs, a hostile crowd of about 300 persons approached the barriers Police had set up at Brush Dam, west of the Vigilance Police Station.

Police said they fired a round in the air in an effort to disperse the crowd but a person or persons within the crowd fired back at the Police.

In the confrontation, two men were wounded and were rushed to the Georgetown Hospital. They were George Sampson, 53, of 119 Friendship, and Donald Primo, 54, of 111 Brush Dam, Buxton.

Sampson received several shots in the face, ear and abdomen, while Primo received several shots in the right leg.

Both men said they were at `Laundry's Pub' drinking when the shooting began. Primo said he had just left the shop and was going to meet a friend at the corner.

A group of persons from the hostile crowd broke away and proceeded to dig two ditches on the Friendship road - one about six feet wide and the other about three feet wide.

This was done "with the obvious intention, we suspect, of robbing passengers who may be commuting," Police said.

Police used teargas to disperse the protesters, some of whom set fires along the road.

Traffic was brought to a standstill for several hours and eventually vehicles from both sides of the divide began turning back in the opposite directions.

A Chronicle photographer covering the funeral had his camera taken away by a man who placed a broken bottle at his neck. The man removed the roll of film from the camera and the photographer said he was able to retrieve his camera before leaving the area.

Police again appealed to "law-abiding citizens of Buxton to desist from engaging in criminal activities and other forms of lawlessness".

Police said they would "not stand idly by and allow lawlessness to prevail."