With the Beijing Olympics nearing completion, China’s assertive efforts to control free speech — by its own citizens and international visitors — remain iron tight. Following on the heels of a punishment of a year-long detention for two elderly Chinese women who attempted to protest the amount they were paid when their homes were confiscated for Olympic venues, it’s now reported that a half-dozen American citizens have been given 10-day detentions for trying to draw world attention to China’s domineering policies towards Tibet.

The latest crackdowns provide yet another dramatic example of how the Chinese government wants to keep a lid on protests so as to avoid any diminishing of the worldwide publicity coup surrounding China’s hosting of the Olympic games. The Olympics, by any measure, have been an overwhelming commercial success, with viewing audiences measured in the millions each day. NBC, expects to earn more than $100 million from advertising on its 17-day coverage of the games, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

It’s fair to point out that some protesters clearly want to be arrested by staging stunts designed to attract media attention, thus amplifying their message. That was apparently the intent of the American demonstrators outside Beijing’s iconic National Stadium. But two Associated Press photographers who were on the scene when the Americans were stopped from unfurling their “Free Tibet” banners were “roughed up” by police, according to the Times account, and had their camera memory cards taken.

Still, these incidents don’t appear to be causing much of an impact, certainly not on the policies of the Chinese authorities. With its athletes leading in the race for Gold Medals, and highly laudatory articles and broadcasts praising the host nation’s handling of the Games, the Beijing Olympics are proving to be a public relations bonanza.

Another protester from Great Britain, Alice Speller, with the group Students for a Free Tibet, summarized the situation this way:

“China is trying to show the world this face, that they are a modern, progressive country but that really isn’t the truth,” said Ms. Speller. “The real face is one that denies freedom of expression, and that denies it brutally and violently when it can.”