A furious tweet by a Barcelona physics teacher denouncing the deal struck between Greece and its creditors during has become one of top trending hashtags on Twitter worldwide.
The hashtag #ThisIsACoup appears to have originated on Sunday evening from a tweet by Spanish physics teacher, Sandro Maccarrone. He tweeted: "The Eurogroup proposal is a covert coup d'etat against the Greek people. ž#ThisIsACoup #Grexit."
At one point, the hashtag was the top trending term in Germany, France, Greece, Spain and the UK, and was the second top trending tweet worldwide for several hours. A total of 413,000 tweets using the hashtag had been reported by Twitter at the time of writing.
Eurozone leaders have agreed to offer Greece a third bailout, after marathon talks in Brussels that took place throughout the weekend.
The deal will mean that Greece will have to pass laws introducing fresh economic reforms by Wednesday which are likely to prove deeply unpopular among some Greeks, and that fiscal decision-making in Athens will be overseen by representatives from creditors. Pensions will need to be streamlined and the eurozone leaders will demand more tax rises and spending cuts in exchange for a much-needed rescue package, worth €86bn. Other measures include privatising the Greek electricity network, extending shop opening hours and increasing tax revenue.
The trending hashtag has gained support from several high profile figures. The Nobel laureate economist Paul Krugman wrote on his New York Times blog that the tweet is "exactly right".
"This goes beyond harsh into pure vindictiveness, complete destruction of national sovereignty, and no hope of relief," he wrote. "This goes beyond harsh into pure vindictiveness, complete destruction of national sovereignty, and no hope of relief. It is, presumably, meant to be an offer Greece can't accept; but even so, it's a grotesque betrayal of everything the European project was supposed to stand for."
Pablo Iglesias, leader of Spain's anti-austerity Podemos party, tweeted: "All our support to the Greek people and the government against the mobsters #ThisIsACoup".
Many of the tweets compared the terms of the bailout to the Nazi occupation of Greece during the Second World War, prompting a counter-response from other Twitter users under the hashtag #ThisIsNotACoup.
However, #ThisIsNotACoup was a significantly less popular tweet, and had been tweeted only 573 times by Monday, according to the BBC.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker denied that the terms of the deal were humiliating for Greece: "In this compromise, there are no winners and no losers.
"I don't think the Greek people have been humiliated, nor that the other Europeans have lost face. It is a typical European arrangement."
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About the writer
Lucy is the deputy news editor for Newsweek Europe. Twitter: @DraperLucy
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