SANTIAGO, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A man doused himself in fuel and set himself alight outside Chile's presidential palace on Thursday to protest housing debt. He survived and was arrested.

Television pictures showed the man in flames before he jumped into an ornamental pond in front of the La Moneda palace in the heart of the capital of Santiago.

The water extinguished the fire, allowing police to fish the protester out of the pond and arrest him.

He was hospitalized with burns over 11 percent of his body, local media reported.

Indebted house owners have staged a series of protests in Chile against what they see as extortionate rates they have to pay to service their mortgage debts.

They have targeted private banks but also the terms of the government's subsidized housing program.

"They took away my house, I'm on the street," the man shouted as he was led away.

Police said the man was carrying a file containing a letter to President Michelle Bachelet about his housing situation.

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