People dressed as seals stand during an anti-seal hunt demonstration in front of EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 01 Jul 2008

Hundreds of protesters have demonstrated outside European Unionheadquarters in Brussels, demanding a total ban on imports of sealproducts.

Animal rights groups are pressuring EU EnvironmentCommissioner Stavros Dimas to quickly issue rules banning the sale ofproducts made from seals that have been inhumanely killed.  

However,many of the activists insist that it is impossible to guarantee thatkilling of seals is carried out in a humane manner. Instead they arecalling for a total ban on use of seal products.

The demonstrators are also seeking a total ban on seal hunting in Canada, Russia, Finland and Greenland.

Canadahas the world's largest commercial seal hunt, an occasion often markedby confrontations between animal rights protesters and hunters.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP and.