A secret tunnel in a NYC synagogue leads to a brawl between police and worshippers

Source: Associated Press

A secret tunnel in a NYC synagogue leads to a brawl between police and worshippers

BY JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Updated 8:06 PM EST, January 9, 2024

NEW YORK (AP) — A historic Brooklyn synagogue that serves as the center of an influential Hasidic Jewish movement was trashed this week during an unusual community dispute that began with the discovery of a secret underground tunnel and ended with worshippers brawling with police.

Each year the Chabad-Lubavitch world headquarters on Crown Heights’ busy Eastern Parkway draws thousands of visitors, including many international students. Its Gothic Revival facade is immediately recognizable to adherents of the Chabad movement, inspiring replicas of the revered building to be built all over the world.

But on Tuesday, the synagogue remained closed off by police barricades as New York City building safety agents inspected whether a tunnel dug without official permission may have caused structural damage to the famed property.

Officials and locals said young men in the community had recently built the passage to the sanctuary in secret. When the group’s leaders tried to seal it off Monday, they staged a protest that turned violent as police moved in to make arrests.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/brooklyn-synagogue-chabad-tunnel-2c03a40c9150bdf6d9d899436789d8cf

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Source: New York Daily News

Melee over secret tunnel at Brooklyn Chabad headquarters ends in 12 arrests

John Annese, Colin Mixson, Thomas Tracy, New York Daily News
Updated Tue, January 9, 2024 at 5:51 PM EST·5 min read

A dozen students at Brooklyn’s Chabad Lubavitch World Headquarters were arrested as they tried to stop efforts to block a secret illegal tunnel they had dug in a bizarre attempt to expand the house of worship, officials said Tuesday.

Cops were called to the famed Orthodox headquarters on Eastern Parkway near Kingston Ave. in Crown Heights around 6 p.m. Monday when several Orthodox students began breaking through a cement sanctuary wall with hammers.

Earlier in the day, Chabad administrators ordered the tunnel the students were trying to link to a basement study hall be sealed.

Students were attempting to build a tunnel from the synagogue to a corner vacant building owned by the Chabad on Kingston Ave. about 55 feet away.

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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/melee-over-secret-tunnel-brooklyn-160600847.html