Police shoot man with axe threatening football fans at Euro 2024

Rory Smith, a New York Times football journalist, was at the scene, and said: “Police have closed the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, not far from the fan zone, where there are thousands of Dutch fans.

“[There were] four loud bangs and then hundreds of riot police moved in.”

Officers had begun to use pepper spray against the axeman before opting to use their weapons, German outlet Bild reported.

And police said that one officer initially fired a warning shot to stop the attacker – before several more rounds were let off until the man finally fell to the ground.

One witness at the scene, a Dutch football fan, praised the police response, saying officers “acted sharply and quickly”.

The man has since been taken from the scene in an ambulance.

More to follow…