"It is our understanding that Flickr users in China are not able to see images on Flickr, and we have confirmed that this is not a technical issue on our end," a spokeswoman for parent company Yahoo Hong Kong said.

"It appears that the Chinese Government is restricting access to Flickr, although we have not received confirmation from them."

The Chinese Government have yet to make any comment about the matter.

Problems with the site begin after photographs of an environmental protest in Xiamen were uploaded to the site for public viewing.

Thousands of local residents were demanding the relocation of a toxic chemical plant, and had clashed with police at points.

Coverage of the protest movement was subject to the usual newspaper censorship.

It was China’s growing army of bloggers that ended up covering the event, complete with videos and pictures.

The protest evidently rattled the authorites as a suspension of work on the chemical project was ordered until an environmental impact assessment could be carried out.

Until the situation can be resolved, Flickr co-founder Stewart Butterworth has few words of comfort for frustrated users:

"We definitely haven't forgotten about you, but there is not much for us to announce publicly at this point.

"As soon as anything changes, will let you know.

"And we're all rooting for you!"