A 39-year-old man wielding an axe has been shot down by police in the German city of Hamburg, one of the ten cities hosting matches for the UEFA Euro 2024.
The bigger picture: The man came out of a pub in the Reeperbahn region, an area popular with tourists, and began waving his axe threateningly towards police and other bystanders.
Police say they repeatedly asked the man to put the axe down and used pepper spray to stop him.
The man then pulled out a small firebomb out of his backpack and attempted to detonate it, at which point one of the officers shot him in the leg.
He has been transferred to hospital to receive medical treatment for non-life threatening injuries.
A bullet casing lies at the scene. German police shot a man armed with a hammer and a firebomb near Hamburg’s Reeperbahn, the heavily visited street in the heart of the northern port city’s nightlife district. Source: DPA / Bodo Marks
German Police say they believe the incident is unrelated to the football tournament going on in the country.
The key quote: “He put down the pickaxe and then tried to set fire to the Molotov cocktail,” a police spokeswoman said.
What else to know: It comes as German Police arrest seven Serbian fans following violent clashes in the city of Gelsenkirchen ahead of their nation’s game with England. Footage on social media showed people throwing chairs towards others, causing injury, at a local restaurant.
Meanwhile, UEFA have charged the Albanian Football Federation for the display of a provocative message during their game with Italy, for the use of fireworks, the throwing of objects and for “an invasion of the field of play” by one of their supporters.
Source Agencies
