Human rights campaigners staged a symbolic “die-in” outside transnational oil giant Total’s London office in Wednesday over the company’s ties to the Myanmar military dictatorship.

The protest, part of a worldwide day of action targeted at the French-based company, saw demonstrators in Cavendish Square dressed in blood-soaked bandages holding placards reading: “Total out of Burma.”

The die-in was held on the same day as Total’s third-quarter profits rose 29 per cent thanks to record oil prices and increased production.

Net profit in the three months through September rose to a massive £2.17 billion.

After two weeks of protests lead by Buddhist monks against the military junta led by General Than Shwe, the Myanmar government’s ferocious subsequent clampdown has shone a particularly bright light on Total’s activities, in particular the Yadana pipeline which runs gas from fields in the Andaman Sea through southern Myanmar and into Thailand.

Campaigners are demanding that the company halts all its operations in Myanmar, including the Yadana gas project, and announces a full divestment from the country.

Protest organiser Jonathan Stevenson said: “The world’s media attention has moved on, but it is important that people who are concerned over what is happening in Burma do what they can to keep the pressure on companies like Total.”

Human rights and environmental organisation EarthRights International legal director Marco Simons explained that Total is involved in what is essentially the single largest foreign investment project in Myanmar and the single largest source of hard currency for the regime.

“They have entered into a direct business relationship with the Burmese military,” he said.