German police have shot a person they are saying was armed with “a pickaxe and an incendiary system” on the sidelines of a parade in Hamburg, simply hours earlier than town was set to host its first match of the monthlong 2024 European Championship.
In keeping with a police post on X, the individual threatened officers earlier than he was shot.
In a video circulating on social media and verified by NBC Information, gunshots might be heard as a number of cops mobilized with firearms drawn. A Hamburg police spokesperson told the BBC that the suspect had tried to ignite a petroleum bomb, however that officers responded with pepper spray earlier than taking pictures him.
In keeping with native media, one officer fired a warning shot earlier than a number of different photographs have been fired.
The attacker was injured and is presently receiving therapy, the police stated. The person was shot within the leg, The Associated Press reported, including that nobody else was damage.
The incident befell in Hamburg’s St. Pauli district, the place tens of hundreds of followers had gathered earlier than Sunday afternoon’s Group D match between the Netherlands and Poland, which kicked off at 3 p.m. native time at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion as scheduled.
One other police post on X stated the Heiligengeistfeld fan park, an space designated for supporters within the metropolis, was effectively protected, and that they believed the person was performing alone.
German authorities have deemed some matches to be “high-risk,” together with England’s conflict with Serbia Sunday night, highlighting a priority that 500 Serbian hooligans might be among the many supporters.
Safety considerations are heightened throughout Europe amid a summer time of high-profile sporting occasions, significantly in France because the nation gears as much as host the Olympics this summer time, amid the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and a spate of politically motivated attacks.
In Could, a person in southern France was arrested over a plan to assault a soccer stadium that might be used through the Olympics.
France’s chief stated Monday that the nation has options ready if security threats require altering its plans for a spectacular opening ceremony to the Paris Olympics this summer time.
It is a growing story. Please verify again for updates.
