Animal welfare activists this evening held a protest outside Circo Fantasy in Blata l-Bajda, hours after the circus instituted libel action against the education authorities and television personality Moira Delia for implying that the circus was cruel to animals.

JS Productions Ltd, acting on behalf of Circo Fantasy, filed two separate libel suits against the Director General of the Education Directorate, Micheline Sciberras, and Ms Delia.

In the first case, the circus argued that Ms Sciberras - against whom the circus filed a judicial protest two weeks ago - had said that she only allowed school outings when there was an educational element and nowadays there was "an increased awareness on animal rights".

According to the circus, her words implied that the circus did not have an educational or cultural value that was ultimately recognized by the European Parliament. She had also implied that the circus was in breach of animal rights.

The suit against Ms Delia was filed over claims she made on the radio and on PBS, on December 8, during which she said circuses were cruel to animals. Such allegations had a negative impacted on the circus' reputation and the circus held Ms Sciberras and Ms Delia liable in damages suffered.

The circus has denied the allegations of cruelty and the Animal Welfare Department has said that simply keeping animals in cages and using them for entertainment did not constitute animal cruelty.

Government vets inspected the circus soon after it arrived in Malta and gave the all-clear.