There's little sign that the Olympics have brought greater freedom of speech to China, with Beijing officials continuing to clamp down on citizens who apply to protest.

The New York Times has an article about 11 people who travelled to Beijing last week to protest about property losses – they ended up surrounded by police and forced back home.

" … Some of the group left their hide-out, an apartment in a northern neighborhood, on Wednesday to carry out a protest outside the main Olympic stadium, called the Bird’s Nest. But there was no protest, and they have not been heard from.

" Later, another protester, Huang Liuhong, stepped outside with her supporters, only to find some 50 police officers from her hometown. They told her they had been watching her and the others ever since they arrived …"

No permits granted

The newspaper says the government still hasn't granted anyone permission to stage a demonstration in any of the three specially set up Olympic protest zones.

The Paralympics finish on 17 September, and perhaps some restrictions will be eased afterward, speculates the New York Times.

In mid-August, China's official news agency, Xinhua, said since the start of the month authorities had received 77 applications to use the Olympic protest zones. None of the applications had been accepted.

Some of the applicants were detained and others forced out the city. Among them two Chinese women in their seventies who were sentenced to one year in a labour camp after repeatedly applying to protest – after a public outcry their sentence was revoked.

Surge in applications

Meanwhile, Radio Free Asia reports that in the last few weeks there's been a surge in applications to use the protest zones, after a top Olympic official hinted the protesters' grievances might be sorted out in a bid to stop them going ahead.

However, the would-be protesters appear to be having little success. Radio Free Asia interview one woman who tried to protest and she says:

" … "The other day I went and there was a representative of the central government complaints bureau there, and two foreign journalists. The police were so nice to us then. They even poured us tea, and took notes," ...

" "They are very polite if there are journalists outside. If not, then they start criticizing you for this, that and the other." …"