A member of the film classification board personally intervened and asked a father and his young son to leave a local cinema during a Harry Potter screening in mid-July, because the child was under 12.

Much to the bewilderment of parents and film critics, the Maltese film classification’s board rated the blockbuster Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix “12”, meaning that children under 12 are not allowed to watch it.

Appalled cinema-goers who witnessed the whole incident said that the censor, Joseph P. Portelli, walked into the Embassy Cinema in Valletta and spotted the young boy.

He approached his father, spoke to him and then asked the cinema officials to make sure they left. He then quarrelled vociferously with the cinema officials.

But the parent politely got up told the censor that he had told the cinema his son was 12-years-old and walked out with his child.

As regards the Board of Film and Stage Classification decision to rate Harry Potter “12”, Alex Pace, the Director of KRS had told maltastar.com: “In effect the classification discriminates against Maltese cinemas. While children under 12 will not be allowed to watch the film in cinemas, when the film is eventually released on DVD, they will not be stopped from hiring it and watching it, even unaccompanied as DVDs are not rated in Malta.”