German police on Sunday said they had shot and injured a man who had rampaged with a knife through the Berlin Cathedral, and also said there were no signs the incident was politically motivated.

Police said on Twitter that officers rushed to the scene after a staff member at the Berliner Dom, a major tourist attraction on the historic Museum Island in the German capital, called the emergency services to report the incident.

A policeman shot the knife-wielding man in the legs. One policeman was also injured, police said, providing no details on how the injuries were sustained.

Both the suspect and the police officer were taken to hospital for treatment. Some 100 people were at the Dom at the time, police said.

"There are no indications that the motive was terrorism- or Islamist-related," police wrote on Twitter.