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A man with a pick axe and an incendiary device has been shot near a Euro 2024 fan park in Hamburg.

Officers opened fire after the man refused to put down the axe, hitting him in the leg, German news agency dpa reported.

The incident is understood to have taken place on the sidelines of a fan parade, known as the ‘Fan Walk’ which begun at 12.30pm local time.

In a statement on social media, the city’s police said: “At St Pauli there is currently a major police operation.

“According to initial findings, a person threatened police officers with a pickaxe and an incendiary device. The police then used their firearms.

Did you see what happened? Email holly.evans@independent.co.uk

“The attacker was injured and is currently receiving medical treatment.”

The force added that the event at Heiligengeistfeld is subject to security checks and that it is working on the assumption that this was the action of a lone perpetrator.

Images have been published on German media of the man lying on the ground with officers surrounding him.

Thousands of Dutch and Polish fans are in the city ahead of today’s 2pm kick-off in Group D.

The incident occurred on the Reeperbahn, which is a popular entertainment district in Hamburg’s city centre that will have been full of football fans.

On Saturday night, thousands of German officers policed the tens of thousands of Dutch fans, who turned the red light district into a sea of orange.

German newspaper Bild reported that the man attacked a police officer using a gold-tinted hammer, before four shots were fired.

Germany is hosting the month-long Euro 2024 tournament, which begun on Friday evening.

It is not the first violent incident to make headlines, with a knifeman shot dead after killing one person and seriously injuring two others shortly after the opening match.

The attacker struck in a garden in the city of Magdeburg where a family was hosting a private party to watch the game against Scotland.

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