2024-01-10 18:04:47
A group of Hasidic Jewish worshipers were arrested amidst a dispute over a secretly dug tunnel on the side of a historic synagogue in Brooklyn, New York, in an unusual episode that triggered a pitched battle between the police and those trying to defend the improvised passageway.
The discovery of the tunnel at the Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters in Crown Heights prompted an emergency structural inspection by the mayor’s office on Tuesday.
The building at 770 Eastern Parkway was once the home of the movement’s leader, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, whose grave Argentine President Javier Milei visited in November before taking office, and attracts thousands of visitors each year. .
Its Gothic-style façade is immediately recognizable to followers of the Chabad movement, and replicas of the revered building have been built around the world.
Chabad spokesman Motti Seligson said “a group of extremist students” had secretly breached the walls of an empty building behind the headquarters, creating an underground passageway under a row of office buildings and classrooms that ended up connecting with the synagogue.
Police arrest a young man following discovering a secret tunnel in a New York synagogue. Photo: AP
The property manager brought in a construction crew Monday to fix the damaged walls, leading to an altercation with those who wanted the walkway left.
“Those attempts were interrupted by extremists who breached the wall to the synagogue, who vandalized the sanctuary, in order to preserve their unauthorized access,” Seligson said.
A police department spokesperson said officers were called to the building Monday followingnoon to respond to a group that was invading and damaging a wall.
Fighting and pushing
A video recorded by witnesses showed police officers confronting young people They were in a hollow space in a brick wall.
After the officers pulled one of the men out of the dusty crevice, a group of people can be seen pushing the officers, and throwing wooden desks and prayer books. One of the officers appears to launch an irritant spray at the group.
The police said that 10 people were arrested for damage and invasion of private property, and one for obstruction of public administration.
It was unclear when the tunnel was built or what it was for.
As inspectors from the city’s building safety agency assessed the damage Tuesday, a group of police officers stood behind barricades surrounding the headquarters, preventing a line of young people from entering the building.
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