The funeral of the two persons shot dead during last week's storming of the Office of the President (OP) was occasion for sporadic violence by a few members of the procession which made its way from Georgetown to Buxton yesterday.
But the police kept a tight rein on proceedings all day and prevented any undue escalation.
Even as the bodies of Mark Crawford and Alberta Fife were being removed from the Ashton and Debra Funeral Parlour, there was heightened police presence in the city and along the East Coast, where armed ranks of both the police force and the Guyana Defence Force patrolled the public road.
Police had denied a request by the main opposition PNC/R to use the Square of the Revolution to view the bodies, citing recent incidents as well as other considerations. As a result the area leading to the Square was cordoned-off as was the area surrounding the OP. The police took this action after being heavily criticised for allowing marchers in an illegal procession into the city on July 3rd. In the ensuing mayhem, two protesters were shot dead after they stormed the Office of the President and this was followed by looting and arson on Regent Street and the beating and robbing of hapless commuters.
Despite yesterday's barricades, the marchers used other routes around the city before proceeding to Buxton where they were met by a heavy police presence in and around the village. The ranks were all heavily armed much to the perturbation of some in the procession.
Shortly before the bodies were taken to the cemetery, a few young men and women who had been standing at a corner near a soft drink stall, pelted large bricks at vehicles that were heading up the East Coast.
When the funeral service ended and the procession reached the public road the marchers stood in the middle of the thoroughfare for over one hour. They placed the two coffins bearing the bodies of Crawford and Fife on the road and an impromptu viewing took place under the close watch of the army and police ranks. Traffic from Georgetown to the Upper East Coast was stalled for more than an hour.
Commuters travelling from Georgetown and those coming from the upper East Coast were forced to abandon their buses and walk through Buxton, before boarding another bus to move onto their destination. Traffic built up from as far as Annandale to Good Hope, monitored closely by traffic officers.
By 1745 hrs the road cleared and shortly after, vehicles were allowed to travel through the village under the direction and supervision of the police.
The police yesterday reported a variety of acts committed by "criminals who were members of the funeral procession." In a press release, the police reported several incidents, which they deemed the continuance of the "hooliganistic behaviour of certain elements in society." According to the release, gunshots were heard in the morning at about 0935 hrs, south of Buxton along the Railway Embankment. At 1300 hrs, the police said, two policemen were assaulted at Hadfield and Haley Street - one was slapped while the other was rescued by a public-spirited citizen in a car - and shortly after, a traffic policeman on duty on Brickdam was pelted with missiles.
The police also reported that a University of Guyana student, who was a commuter on a mini-bus on the Friendship Public Road, was robbed of a bag containing textbooks and other items as well as a wallet containing $1,000. Police were also victims of a later attack where one of their traffic vehicles was pelted with missiles, the release stated, resulting in damage to the right door.
At 6.15 p.m., a group of persons on Brusche Dam, Friendship, East Coast Demerara also pelted missiles at passing vehicles.