A South China Morning Post photographer was stopped from entering Macau yesterday - apparently the first time the city has barred a Hong Kong journalist.
Felix Wong Chi-keung had been granted a Macau government permit to cover the trial of disgraced former secretary for transport and public works Ao Man-long.
The Post lodged a strongly worded protest with Macau authorities.
'The South China Morning Post is extremely concerned by what it sees as a serious infringement of the freedom of the press as well as Mr Wong's freedom of movement,' editor C. K. Lau said.
The paper has written to Macau's secretary for security, Cheong Kuoc-va, and to the director of its Government Information Bureau, Chan Chi-ping, demanding an apology and an assurance that Wong will be allowed to enter Macau in the future.
'He was travelling to Macau to exercise his professional duties as a press photographer ... There is no justification for refusing him entry,' Mr Lau said.
When Wong presented his Hong Kong identity card, he was ushered into an office at the city's ferry pier.
