Controversy over secret tunnel at Brooklyn synagogue leads to arrests

Several people have been arrested in New York after a dispute over a secret tunnel in a Brooklyn synagogue. A fight broke out between the police and those who created the passage and wanted it to remain at the headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch community.

A group of men belonging to New York’s Hasidic Jewish community were arrested Monday amid a dispute over an illegal tunnel dug secretly into the wall of a historic synagogue that has since closed.

According to The Guardian, the actions of law enforcement after the tunnel was discovered led to a scuffle between the police and those who created the passage and wanted it to remain.

The world headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch community, located in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn in New York, was engulfed in chaos on Tuesday as Jewish leaders and police clashed with what Rabbi Motti Seligson, a Chabad spokesman, called “a group of extremist students.” “

Once home to Orthodox Jewish leader Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the building attracts thousands of visitors each year. Schneerson led Chabad-Lubavitch for more than four decades until his death in 1994, reviving the Hasidic religious community that had been devastated by the Holocaust, The Guardian writes.

Rabbi Seligson said that rebel students from the movement “secretly broke through the walls of a vacant building behind the headquarters, creating an underground passage under a series of office buildings and lecture halls that eventually connected to the synagogue.”

A construction crew was brought in on Monday to repair the damaged walls but was met with protests from students who were building the tunnel.

“These efforts were thwarted by extremists who broke through the wall into the synagogue, vandalizing the sanctuary in an attempt to maintain their unauthorized access,” Seligson said.

The reason for the creation of the tunnel remains undisclosed, notes The Guardian.

A New York Police Department (NYPD) spokesman said officers were called to the building Monday afternoon to respond to a disorderly group that had entered the property and damaged a wall.

Those allegedly responsible for the tunnel’s construction were arrested for criminal mischief and trespassing, as well as obstruction of governmental administration, an NYPD spokesman said.

City inspectors were called to the site to conduct an emergency structural inspection. During the inspection, police officers stood behind barricades surrounding the headquarters, blocking the line of young people who wanted to enter the building.

An anonymous tip about the location was sent to the New York City Fire Department last month, but when the fire department responded, all exits were operational and up to code, said Amanda Farinacci, an agency spokeswoman.

The NYPD said the building is currently closed pending a structural safety review by city inspectors.