More than 300 killed in the Myanmar coup, Washington and London impose economic sanctions on the military

Data from a rights advocacy association and local media showed that security forces in Myanmar killed more than 300 people in attempts to crush protests against the military coup, which took place on February 1, with nearly 90% of the victims killed by a gunshot and a quarter of them shot in the head .

A spokesman for the military council said - for its part - that 164 protesters and 9 security forces had been killed as of Tuesday.

The Association for Assistance to Political Prisoners, a non-profit association that counts deaths, said "crimes against humanity are committed on a daily basis," and that the association explains that nearly 3,000 individuals have been arrested, charged, or sentenced since the coup.

The association recorded 320 deaths as of March 25.

Its data show that at least 25% of those killed died from a gunshot wound to the head;

This raises suspicions that they were deliberately targeted, and complete data are not available on every death.

Amnesty International said this month, "Everything indicates that the forces are adopting a shoot-to-kill method in order to quell the protests."

The military council denies the use of excessive force and says its practices are in line with international standards in the face of a situation it says poses a threat to national security.

Nearly 90% of the dead are male.

And about 36% of them were 24 or younger.

"The revolution will triumph"

Thousands of pro-democracy activists participated in demonstrations in the streets of Myanmar yesterday, a day after the strike shut down companies, and residents kept their homes to protest the military coup.

Witnesses and social media posts said that the protests were in Yangon, the commercial capital of the country, in the city of Muniwa and several other cities.

In Muniwa, the demonstrators chanted slogans saying "Are we united? Yes" and "The revolution will triumph."

The "Hinathar" media organization said that the police dispersed a demonstration in the city of Maulamen and arrested 20 people. On Thursday, security forces shot demonstrators in several cities.

The UN special rapporteur on this country called for an emergency international summit, and considered that the international response was too slow and not strong enough in the face of the generals ’coup, who overthrew the civilian government of Aung San Sochi on February 1.

After a day of "silent strike" that paralyzed a number of major cities, demonstrations calling for democracy were violently suppressed on Thursday.

International positions

The killings sparked outrage and pushed Western countries, including the United States, to impose sanctions, and neighboring countries in Southeast Asia, which tend to hold back their criticism, have condemned the use of lethal force against civilians.

The United States and Britain imposed sanctions on huge military-owned entities in Myanmar, and the European Union and the United States imposed sanctions on Monday on individuals linked to the coup and the crackdown on demonstrators.

The US Treasury said the sanctions targeted the Myanmar Economic Holdings Corporation and the Myanmar Economic Corporation.

The US move includes freezing the assets of the two entities in the United States, the latest in a series of sanctions imposed by Washington since the military coup, targeting the central bank and senior army generals.

Sanctions also prevent US companies and American citizens from conducting financial dealings with the entities and individuals mentioned on the blacklist.

On Thursday, British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced that his country had imposed sanctions on companies belonging to the Myanmar army.

According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the sanctions include the military-owned "Myanmar Economic Holding Limited" group for its involvement in gross human rights violations against the Rohingya, and its association with prominent military figures.

In the statement, the British Foreign Secretary said that the sanctions "target the military's financial interests to help dry up the sources of funding for its crackdown on civilians."