Police in Brooklyn of United States arrested 10 people who attempted to stop construction workers from filling in an illegal tunnel to link a synagogue in to a nearby ritual bath, Daily Mail reported.

Video footages of the wild scenes showed young Jewish men clashing with police who were called to report a disorderly group outside of 770 Eastern Parkway of Brooklyn on January 8.

Meanwhile, speculations were spreading over social media over the purpose of the tunnel as some claimed that it was designed to reach an abandoned women’s mikvah, or ritual baths.

Others said that the illegal tunnel had been dug to expand the synagogue, although it was unclear how it would do so.

It is believed that members of Chabad-Lubavitch have been digging tunnels under the synagogue for many months.

It is pertinent to mention that the tunnels were discovered in December last year, and the synagogue’s leaders called in structural engineers to assess the damage.

When workers arrived to fill the illegal tunnels on Jan 8, young Orthodox jewish men ripped away the wooden walls that were hiding the entrance to the secret tunnels while some ran into them to prevent them being filled.

Video footages on social media showed dozens of New York Police Department officers trying to push the furious men back from the entrance to the tunnel while some of the men attempt to charge back through the tunnels.

Yosef Braun, the rabbi of the synagogue, called actions of the young men ‘horrid’ and a disgrace to the site.

The dispute over the tunnel is believed to stem from a decades-long rift within the Chabad - one of the largest groups of Hasidic Jews in the world - which is a movement against the synagogue leadership.

The two sides are in disagreement over who owns the synagogue which also serves as the World Headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch.