Police shoot man wielding axe in Hamburg ahead of Euro 2024 game

Police cordon off an area near the Reeperbahn after an operation. Police have shot a man armed with a pickaxe and a Molotov cocktail near the Reeperbahn in Hamburg-St. Pauli. He was hit in the leg, a police spokesman said on Sunday in response to a report in the newspaper "Bild". Steven Hutchings/dpa

German police shot a man armed with an axe and a Molotov cocktail near Hamburg's Reeperbahn, the heavily touristed street in the heart of the northern port city's red light district.

The man was hit in the leg by an officer on Sunday afternoon and is now receiving medical treatment, a police spokesman said.

The incident raised major alarm as Hamburg is one of 10 German cities hosting Euro 2024 matches. Poland squares off there against the Netherlands later on Sunday.

Tens of thousands of Dutch fans earlier marched down the streets of the St Pauli nightlife district, where the Reeperbahn is located.

But a police spokesman said that early indications suggested "no football connection."

The man had come out of a pub on street adjacent to the Reeperbahn with the axe in his hand and waving it at police officers in a "threatening manner," according to the spokesman's account. He was also carrying a Molotov cocktail.

Police asked him to put down the tool. When he refused, the officers opened fire and hit him in the leg.

Police cordon off an area near the Reeperbahn after an operation. Police have shot a man armed with a pickaxe and a Molotov cocktail near the Reeperbahn in Hamburg-St. Pauli. He was hit in the leg, a police spokesman said on Sunday in response to a report in the newspaper "Bild". Steven Hutchings/dpa