Pournara

The ‘Pournara First Reception Centre’ is a closed Reception and Identification Centre (RIC) in the outskirts of the village of Kokkinotrimithia in the western Nicosia area. It was first established in 2014 as a tented facility with a 350-person capacity intended to provide a 72-hour emergency accommodation to newly arrived refugees from Syria. It has exceeded its capacity at several points since 2018 at times hosting up to 4000 people. There have been a number of anti-RIC protests in the area. In 2023 a second fence was constructed to make it a closed centre.