HAMBURG: Police shot and injured a man who threatened them with an axe and a Molotov cocktail ahead of a Euro 2024 match in Hamburg on Sunday, German authorities said.

The incident triggered a “major operation” in the city’s St Pauli district, police said on X, formerly Twitter. A 39-year-old German man has been identified as a suspect, police sources said.

There was no indication of a link to the Euro 2024 clash between Poland and the Netherlands that took place later on Sunday, a police spokesman said.

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

The police also said on X that the suspect was injured and receiving medical treatment. The incident took place near the Reeperbahn station, more than a kilometre away from the city’s official fan zone.

“He apparently tried to set fire to this Molotov cocktail and then approached several people including police officers, and the police officers then had to make use of their firearms,” said Hamburg police spokesperson Sandra Levgruen.

Published in Dawn, June 17th, 2024