On July 19, thousands of people in 14 major cities in Germany took to the streets to protest Prime Minister Angela Merkel's heavy-handed approach to Greece.

The protest was carried out with the aim of showing solidarity in Europe - Photo: Popular Resistance

Hannah Eberle, a spokeswoman for the protest movement, told Newsweek in an interview that the Merkel government's actions were undemocratic and very aggressive in forcing Greece to undergo severe austerity measures in exchange for a bailout.

She said the aim of these protests was to show that there are many Germans who are sympathetic and want Europe to show solidarity.

“Many Germans are ashamed of what the government is doing. We want people to see another face of Europe – the face of solidarity,” said one protester.

“The Merkel government’s handling of the Greek crisis has revealed the future of European politics,” said Simon Weppel, a student at a university in Berlin. “The policy of national sovereignty will continue to be dominated by a German government that is both disciplined and fascist. We have seen the consequences of an unchecked German hegemony.”

Thousands of people took to the streets in 14 major German cities to protest Merkel's tough stance on Greece - Photo: Popular Resistance

However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. In a recent survey by the German magazine Stern, 55% of Germans supported Ms. Merkel's stance in the negotiations.

These people said they believed Ms Merkel’s tough stance on Greece during the negotiations was right. A third of them even wished she had been more assertive in pushing Greece to leave the eurozone.

However, most survey respondents said they were skeptical about whether Greece would actually carry out reforms.

Not only in Germany, in many other places in Europe, many people also organized protests to protest the leaders' solutions to the Greek crisis.

(According to TTO)