THEY managed to get away with it for about ten minutes before the security asked them to leave.

More than 20 teenagers from across Oxfordshire lay down on the floor of the Westgate Centre in Oxford today and pretended to be dead.

Two of them remained standing in the square in front of Primark and silently held a banner saying 'Business as usual will kill us'.

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The so-called 'die-in' was a protest against 'fast fashion', aiming to raise awareness about poor working conditions and shameful environmental records in the clothing industry.

One of those who took part, Hana Fetigan, 17, from Witney, said the event had been a success, despite the fact it was so short.

The Wood Green School pupil said: "It was very short because the Westgate security wanted us to move on quite quickly.

"It was about 10 or 15 minutes, but we had two people giving speeches while we were lying there about the impact of fast fashion and what that means for young people like us."

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Members of the group had spent the days in the run-up to the protest researching the credentials of brands with outlets at the Westgate Centre, and Hana said that when members of public asked them what they were doing they were able to give detailed answers about some of the shops around them.

She said: "Quite a few of the public have been interested in specific shops so we've been able to facilitate and educate people."

However the event was also something of a test: the group are planning to go back to the Westgate tomorrow and stage another demonstration, so Hana said it had been useful to test the security guards' reaction.

She said: "We've been testing the waters a lot today: we knew they probably wouldn't want us to do the die-in but we thought let's do it and see what's it like then decide what we do tomorrow."