Man charged with attempted manslaughter after axe incident at Euro 2024 | Football news

A man who was shot in the leg by police in Hamburg on Sunday, just hours before the first match of the 2024 European Championship, has been charged with attempted manslaughter.

The man was seen with an object that police said resembled a pickaxe or an axe-like object, as well as a Molotov cocktail – a homemade incendiary device – in the St. Pauli district, where a large number of Dutch fans were reportedly gathered ahead of the match against Poland.

According to police, the man was shot in the leg when he refused to comply with an order to throw down the Molotov cocktail. Police said on Sunday that the man had been taken to hospital, but appeared before a judge in Hamburg on Monday.

In a statement by the Hamburg Public Prosecutor’s Office it says: “The temporary accommodation of the person concerned has just been ordered.”

“He is accused of attempted manslaughter and offences under the Weapons Act. He did not provide any information about the charges during the interview.”

The Hamburg public prosecutor’s office announced that the proceedings had now been taken over by the Central Office for State Security due to “the importance of the matter and the still unclear background to the crime”.

“The incident had nothing to do with football”

Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol in Gelsenkirchen:

“After the Dutch fans marched down the Reeperbahn – one of Hamburg’s main streets – an incident captured on video occurred in which a person dressed all in black and holding a small pickaxe appears to be threatening a group of German police officers.

“They tried to calm him down, but when it looked like he was threatening them, they apparently used pepper spray on him, after which he ran away. He was pursued by police officers, who apparently shot him in the leg.

“We have been told that he is being treated in hospital and the German authorities believe that this incident has nothing to do with football, even though it happened shortly before kick-off and in the immediate vicinity of a place where many Dutch fans had gathered.”