New York officials have issued emergency work orders to stabilize a historic synagogue and its neighboring structures after an illicit underground tunnel was discovered at the sanctuary earlier this week.
An investigation by the city’s Department of Buildings uncovered a tunnel that was 18.3m long, 2.4m wide and 1.5m high, located underneath the global headquarters of the Chabad Lubavitch movement, an important Jewish site. It extends under several buildings in the vicinity.
“As a result of this extensive investigation, we have issued emergency work orders to stabilize the buildings above the tunnel, vacate orders in parts of the buildings to ensure occupant safety, and enforcement actions against the property owners for the illegal work,” Andrew Rudansky, a spokesperson for the buildings department, said in an e-mail.
Photo: AP
The property is a deeply revered site that each year receives thousands of visitors. Its Gothic Revival facade, immediately recognizable to adherents of the Chabad movement, has inspired dozens of replicas worldwide.
Officials and locals said young men in the community recently built the tunnel in secret.
When the group’s leaders tried to seal it off on Monday, supporters of the tunnel staged a protest that turned violent as police moved in to make arrests.
A spokesperson for the buildings department said the tunnel did not have approval and permits from the city.
City inspectors found dirt, tools and debris inside, they said.
Rabbi Motti Seligson, a spokesperson for Chabad, characterized the tunnel as a rogue act of vandalism committed by a group of misguided young men and condemned the “extremists who broke through the wall to the synagogue, vandalizing the sanctuary, in an effort to preserve their unauthorized access.”
Those who supported the tunnel, meanwhile, said they were carrying out an “expansion” plan long envisioned by the former head of the Chabad movement, Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson.
Rundansky said the excavation work to create the tunnel caused structural issues at two buildings, resulting in orders to partially vacate them for safety reasons.
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