WATCH | Several arrests after violent clash over secret synagogue tunnel in New York – Beragampengetahuan

• New York police arrested several Hasidic Jewish men following a dispute at the global headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
• The tunnel, reportedly dug by a group of “extremist students” within the movement, connected to the synagogue by breaching vacant buildings.
• The reason behind the construction of the tunnel has not been disclosed.

New York police arrested a group of men belonging to the Hasidic Jewish community after the discovery of a tunnel secretly dug into a historic synagogue.

According to the Associated Press (AP), the dispute is centred on the global headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

Earlier this week, police and Jewish leaders clashed with the young men allegedly responsible for digging the tunnel.

In a statement on Tuesday, spokesperson for the Chabad, Rabbi Motti Seligson, labelled the men “a group of extremist students”, per beragampengetahuan.

Seligson said the students, who belong to the movement, had breached the walls of vacant buildings behind the headquarters and created “an underground passage beneath a row of office buildings and lecture halls that eventually connected to the synagogue”.

Work to repair the damaged walls and seal the tunnel opening was expected to take place on early this week, but was halted when the students staged protests that turned violent.

Police officers responded to the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights in New York, United States, on 9 January 2024.

Getty Images Lokman Vural Elibol/Anadolu/Getty Images

According to reports, the New York City Police Department arrested nine people for criminal mischief, criminal trespass, and obstruction of governmental administration.

The reason for the tunnel’s construction has not been disclosed.

AP reported that those in favour of the tunnel said they were implementing an “expansion” plan envisioned by Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who led the Chabad movement for decades before his death in 1994.

The building remains closed while city inspectors conduct a structural safety review.