According to the refugees, the convoy consisted of four buses and 21 cars and was divided in two groups after one of the cars had broken down near Pec.
"Two cars and busses immediately pulled away and continued ahead, while we followed behind them somewhat later. When we reached a crossroads near the center of the town, the Dutch KFOR troops who provided security for the convoy, in spite of our warnings, chose a wrong turn and took us to the Albanian part of the town," says Dejan Simic, one of the refugees injured in the attack.
According to Simic, two cars blocked the convoy of 17 cars, and a mass of ethnic Albanians began to stone the vehicles and set them on fire by alighting rags soaked in gasoline under the cars.
"At that moment we were protected by 15 soldiers, and somewhat later Italian soldiers, who are stationed in Pec, arrived to provide assistance. In 45 minutes, during the attack, we were absolutely helpless, while KFOR soldiers tried to save our lives. After the attack, we were taken to the nearby Police station. At about 10 pm we were taken out of the station via a side entrance and evacuated from the town in armored troop carriers. 15 people suffered light or serious injuries. Two of them are children aged 3 and 12. We have lost all our documents, money and clothing. We didn't know anything about friends who had left the convoy earlier and were afraid for their lives," says Simic.
Refugees denied claims of ethnic Albanians that war criminals were in the convoy. They stress that that was not possible since they had previously passed 15 different checks in which two persons were arrested and seven kept behind. They believe that, besides Albanians, KFOR members also share blame for the incident because they got lost and there were not enough of them to provide security for the convoy.
Berane - Veselin Vitosevic (46) from Orahovac with wife Smiljana (40) and two children, daughter Milica (14) and son Obrad (5) was in the convoy that was attacked by Albanians in Pec and finally arrived to Berane at about 2 am last morning. "Along the way, we were escorted by the members of the Dutch and German KFOR. They offered top security until the jam [in Pec]. Soon reinforcements from Italian KFOR arrived. Albanians were throwing stones, bricks at us, hitting our cars, threatening. They smashed everything and even attacked Italian policemen. Most of the Albanians seemed not to be armed. I only noticed that some had knives. We were stuck for an hour and I saw smoke and vehicles set on fire at the head of the column. KFOR members first provided first aid to the injured, gave us food and at about 9 pm evacuated us in their armored cars. Our cars were burned and the worst consequence of all this is that we have lost all our documents and money. Montenegrin police and doctors greeted us with open arms," says Vitosevic.
"Only those who had received from friends and relatives from Montenegro, via UNHCR, guarantees for accommodation, were included in this convoy. I do not understand why Montenegro and Serbia now demand such guarantees when during the war they accepted ethnic Albanians without any documents," wonders Djinovic.
Most of the refugees admitted yesterday that they had obtained guarantees in various ways, only to get out of the ghetto, as they refer to their part of Orahovac. In other words, they are now stranded without shelter. According to the data offered yesterday by UNHCR, most of the new arrivals will stay in Podgorica, one family each in Pljevlja and Herceg Novi, and two to three in Rozaje. About 50 refugees continued to Serbia. As we found out at the Commission for Displaced Persons, by yesterday they hadn't received a single request for accommodation.