Diavata RIC Key Information Started operations as a RIC: September 2022 Location: 7.5 km from Thessaloniki city centre, 2.5 km from Diavata village (40.702278, 22.863993) Management: Reception and Identification Service (RIS) Key Information Approximate capacity: 940 Diavata RIC (Κ.Υ.Τ. Διαβατών in Greek) started operations on 1st September 2022. The RIC opened on an existing site which had been used to accommodate registered asylum seekers since 2016, and was previously used as a military base (Anagnostopoulou).⁴⁴ The current site operates both as a RIC and an open reception facility for registered applicants. The facility is surrounded by industrial warehouses and farmland.⁴⁵ In 2018 the camp witnessed numerous protests linked to poor living conditions⁴⁶ and in 2019 attracted international media attention when riot police used tear gas on hundreds of people on the move who set up an informal camp outside the facility.⁴⁷ Diavata RIC is a semi-closed facility, with an electronic entry-exit system installed in 2021.⁴⁸ Residents with an asylum seeker card are permitted to exit the facility by scanning their card. The site has a prison-like structure including a 3-metre high perimeter concrete wall, security gate and security cameras lining the external wall. Some infrastructure remains from the site’s previous use as a military base, for instance the watchtowers. Unlike in Malakasa RIC, residents have free movement within the facility, and the accommodation area is not separated by any fence or barrier from the administration buildings. 19