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

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

Hannah Eberle, a spokesperson for the protest movement, told Newsweek in an interview that the Merkel government's actions were undemocratic and aggressive in forcing Greece to tighten its belt and endure hardship in order to receive the bailout package.

She said the purpose of these protests was to show that many Germans have empathy and want Europe to show solidarity.

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

Simon Weppel, a student at a Berlin university, said: “The Merkel government’s handling of the Greek crisis has revealed the future of European politics. Policy on national sovereignty will continue to be dominated by a German government that is highly disciplined and fascist. We have seen the consequences of an unrestrained 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, as many as 55% of Germans supported Merkel's position in the negotiations.

These people said they believed Merkel's tough stance toward Greece during the negotiations was correct. One-third of them even hoped she would show more resolve toward Greece by forcing it to leave the eurozone.

However, most of those surveyed said they doubted whether Greece was actually implementing reforms.

This is not unique to Germany; in many other parts of Europe, people are also organizing protests to oppose the handling of the Greek crisis by their leaders.

(According to TTO)