Man charged with attempted manslaughter over axe incident at Euro 2024

A man shot in the leg by police in Hamburg hours before the city hosted its first Euro 2024 match on Sunday has been charged with attempted manslaughter.

The man was seen wielding what police described as a pickaxe or axe-like object and a Molotov cocktail – a home-made incendiary device – in the city’s St Pauli district, reportedly in an area where a large number of Netherlands supporters had gathered ahead of their match against Poland.

Police said the man was shot in the leg when he did not heed a request to drop the Molotov cocktail. Police said on Sunday the man was taken to hospital, but he appeared before magistrates in Hamburg on Monday.

A statement from the Attorney General’s Office in Hamburg said: “The temporary confinement of the person concerned has just been ordered.

“He is charged with attempted manslaughter and crimes under the Weapons Act. He did not provide any information about the accusation during the presentation.”

The Hamburg prosecutors said the case had now been taken over by the Central Office for State Security due to “the significance of the matter and the still unclear background of the crime”.

‘Incident not football-related’

Sky Sports News’ chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol in Gelsenkirchen:

“After the Dutch fans had marched down the Reeperbahn – one of the main streets in Hamburg – an incident that’s been captured on video where somebody dressed in all black, holding a small pickaxe appears to threaten a group of German police officers.

“They tried to calm him down but when it looked like he was threatening them, it appears they used pepper spray on him which caused him to run away. He was chased by police officers who appeared to shoot him in the leg.

“We are being told that he is receiving hospital treatment and the German authorities say they believe this incident wasn’t football related, even though it happened very close to the kick-off of this game and very close to where lots of Dutch fans had been congregating.”