Hamburg. A man threatens police officers with a pickaxe and a Molotov cocktail near the Reeperbahn in Hamburg, where thousands of Dutch football fans were marching through the nearby streets. The police resort to weapons.
He threatened with a pickaxe near the Reeperbahn and wanted to light a Molotov cocktail – and all this not far from thousands of EM fans: Authorities in Hamburg-St. Pauli shot and injured a man who threatened several people and emergency services.
He was hit in the leg and is receiving medical attention, a police spokesman said. According to police, the man’s motive was initially unclear. “According to current knowledge, there is no link with football,” the spokesperson said.
Shortly before the incident, thousands of Dutch fans took part in a so-called fan walk through the district on the occasion of the European Championship match between the Netherlands and Poland in the afternoon. Based on initial findings, police presume that the perpetrator was the sole perpetrator. “The event in Heiligengeistfeld is subject to several security checks and is well protected,” the police wrote on the platform.
Multiple gunshots but no other injuries
The man left a bar on Silbersackstrasse around noon. A spokesman said he had a tool in his hand, a pickaxe of sorts, and pointed it at the officers in a “threatening manner.” They asked him to put down his tools. He also had a Molotov cocktail in his hands. “He put the pickaxe away and tried to light the Molotov cocktail with a lighter,” a police spokeswoman said.
A video circulating on social media shows the man threatening several people and shouting “Shoot” at the emergency services. As, according to investigators, he continued to create a threatening situation, the officers fired. A police spokesman was initially unable to say how many shots were fired. Several gunshots can be heard in the video in question. According to current investigations, there were no other injuries.
Police cordoned off the crime scene on a side street of the Reeperbahn and also part of the Reeperbahn with fences, as noted by a DPA photographer at the scene. Authorities obtained evidence. “I firmly assume that the homicide squad will also become involved and, as is customary in these cases, the department will also carry out internal investigations,” the police spokeswoman said. “Bild” she had previously reported.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240616-99-416359/6 (dpa)