Screening interrupted after school children discover rats caught in home-made traps.

Cinema Barberini in central Rome has been closed after dead rats were found in the multi-sala complex on the morning of 24 January.

The grim discovery was made by school children during the screening of a film as part of events to mark the upcoming International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.

The children discovered several dead rats, impaled in makeshift traps made using popcorn, on the floor behind the back row of seats.

The macabre find led to 700 students and their teachers fleeing the cinema in the middle of the screening.

The building was swiftly shut down by police and health officials who confirmed the presence of rats at the cinema which is closed pending an investigation.

Barberini is among a handful of Rome cinemas showing original English-language movies on a regular basis.