German police shoot man with axe in city hosting Euro 2024 match

Officers cordoned off an area near the Reeperbahn in Hamburg following the incident (Steven Hutchings/dpa via AP)

German police have said they shot and wounded a man who was threatening them with an axe and a firebomb in the northern city of Hamburg, hours before it hosted a match in the Euro 2024 football tournament.

The man was receiving medical treatment, Hamburg police said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, without providing further details.

The incident occurred in the St Pauli area of the city centre, which German media said was thronged with thousands of fans ahead of Sunday’s match between the Netherlands and Poland.