Students have staged an eye-catching protest to highlight what they see as the crippling debt they face.

University of Leicester students dangled mannequins from washing lines across the city's Victoria Park to show how students were being "hung out to dry" by high tuition fees.

Photographs of the university's students holding up signs showing how much they were in debt were also attached to washing lines.

The students started assembling the protest at 4.30am yesterday so they would be ready in time to catch people's eyes walking to work through the park.

Owen Jones, 23, the student's union's campaign officer at the university, said people were shocked when they were told the scale of student debt.

He said: "With the average graduate already coming out of university with a debt of £20,000. the only outcome of this initiative will be a reversal back to the olden days.

"The days when the only sorts of students who attended were those who went to private schools and came from well-off backgrounds.

"The blame ultimately lies with the Government for turning its back on the students of this country."

Owen, who said his debt was "only £12,000" because he started university before top-up fees were introduced, said they were protesting against the Confederation of British Industry's suggestion that fees should rise further.

At the moment, universities can charge up to £3,225 a year for an undergraduate course, although they are obliged to offer some bursaries.

Both the Labour and Conservative parties have suggested the £3,225 cap could be lifted, with some top universities pressing for a doubling of fees to £7,000.

Students are required to begin paying back the loan once they start earning a salary of more than £15,000.

Owen said: "We've had a positive response from members of the public walking by, who know there is an argument about student debt but don't quite realise how high it is."

Stuart Cheaseley, 21, a final-year mathematics student, is already more than £26,000 in the red.

He said: "The amounts involved are now pretty staggering.

"The job situation means that A-levels are no longer enough.

"We need to go to university, there's still no guarantee of a job, and yet we end up being saddled with debt for the next 20 years or more."

Marie Grander, 36, of Clarendon Park, Leicester, was one of those who walked past the protest.

She said: "I feel sorry for them. We've obviously got to pay for universities somehow, but forcing them to run up so much debt is just going to persuade kids from poor families not to go."