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Police shoot a man with an axe in Hamburg before a football European Championship 2024

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According to German authorities, police shot and injured a man who threatened them with an axe and a Molotov cocktail on Sunday before a 2024 European Championship match in Hamburg.

The incident triggered a “major operation” in the St. Pauli district, the police announced on X (formerly Twitter).

A 39-year-old German has been identified as a suspect, police sources told Agence France-Presse.

There was no indication of a connection to the Euro 2024 Collision between Poland and that Netherlands This happened later on Sunday, a police spokesman said.
Shortly after a man was shot dead by police with an axe in the Hamburg district of St. Pauli on Sunday. Photo: Nonstopnews via Reuters

The attacker “came out of a bar with a pickaxe and a Molotov cocktail and threatened the police,” the spokesman said, adding that the suspect was shot in the leg.

Police also told X that the suspect was injured and was receiving medical treatment.

The incident occurred near Reeperbahn station, more than a kilometer from the city’s official fan zone.

Nevertheless, large parts of Hamburg were teeming with football fans ahead of the match in which the Netherlands beat Poland 2-1.

Police officers at the scene of a potentially fatal attack in Wolmirstedt. Photo: dpa

The attack in Hamburg was not the only violent incident in the country over the weekend. Police said on Saturday they shot dead an Afghan man after he fatally attacked a compatriot and later injured three people watching the televised opening match of the 2024 European Championships in eastern Germany.

The 27-year-old Afghan citizen initially attacked a 23-year-old compatriot with a “knife-like object” on Friday evening in Wolmirstedt, a small town about 130 kilometers west of Berlin, police said. The victim later succumbed to his injuries.

The man later attacked a group of people watching the football match between Germany and Scotland in the garden of a private house. Three German men were injured, two of them seriously, police said.

Police said the attacker, still armed with the same object, also attacked police officers called to the scene. Two of the officers shot and wounded the man, who died shortly after in hospital.

Police said the motive for the attacks was unclear. The Interior Ministry of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, to which Wolmirstedt belongs, said police had increased their presence across the state. The 2024 European Football Championship will take place in cities across Germany and will run until July 14.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

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