A state firm close to President Slobodan Milosevic has refused to print the non-government newspaper in Yugoslavia until it changes its editorial policy.
The independent daily Blic, with a circulation of 200,000, learned that the firm was ending its printing contract two hours before deadline on the day when the front page story was a major opposition rally in Belgrade.
The pressure on Blic comes during a week in which non-government journalists covering anti-regime protests have faced arrest by police in Serbia. On May 9th alone, 29 foreign and domestic journalists were held by police.
The Blic deputy editor, Mr Momcilo Petrovic, blamed "the policy of the regime" for the loss of his paper's printing contract and said that its context was Blic coverage of opposition rallies and support for democratic principles.
The paper will now seek permanent alternative printing arrangements, but will face earlier deadlines, distribution problems and a reduction in quality, as well as losing its colour printing facility.
The action of the state publishers, Borba, was in breach of contract, Mr Petrovic said, and did not make economic sense, as Blic paid its bills on time. Its managing editor, Mr Zivorad Djordjevic, is a member of the Yugoslav Left party of President Milosevic's wife, Mirjana Markovic.
The pressure on Blic comes as Serbian authorities imposed a clampdown across the country in the wake of the assassination on Saturday of a leading ally of President Milosevic in the northern city of Novi Sad.
The regime blames the murder of Mr Bosko Perosevic - the Novi Sad Socialist Party leader and president of the Vojvodina parliament - on the youth movement Resistance (Otpor).
Although the killer was caught on film and arrested by police minutes after the event, police who later searched his flat said he was a member of Otpor and a supporter of the party of opposition politician Vuk Draskovic.
Police have issued warrants for the arrest of two Otpor members and swooped on a whole series of other activists from the movement in towns across the country.
The Minister of Information, Mr Goran Matic, has described the group as "fascists" and "traitors", and has warned that their spectacles on the streets of Serbia will no longer be tolerated.
Pristina - A Kosovo Serb working for the United Nations mission in Kosovo has been found stabbed to death near Pristina, the UN said yesterday. Mr Petar Topoljski (25), whose body was identified yesterday, had disappeared a week earlier.