Manipulation can go both ways. However, it is true that rise in gold price can make certain powerful financial interest unhappy. It could adversely effect currency values and monetary policy in general. So it is not a stretch to be mindful of some manipulation or intervention to keep its price from going up.
I don't think gold price should always go up, unlike some people who thought that their real estate price would always go up or stock price will never come down. I am not going to be rich from gold because I have none. I know there are some perennial gold bulls out there. On the other hand, there are mindless gold bashers, too.
Economy always change and the dogma that gold is always good (or always bad) is a stupid idea. These people should settle their personal hang-ups in some place else.
The point is that ultimately gold and silver are not subject to arbitrary manipulation by central banks. They continue to be a better store of value than paper currency, no matter what the bankers’ want. Central banks still keep a storehouse of gold to backstop (short term) their currencies, intentionally depreciated year after year. They are fabulous crooks.
Timed manipulation can also be used to time the "other" way. If I manipulate gold or oil up starting, say, 9 months before an election, and keep the "peak oil" stories going in the media for about 6 months, that would obviously lead to an overshoot on the upside and an automatic and unstoppable fall afterwards.