Dec. 17, 2004 Hassidim riot over plaque in Rebbe's 'memory' By URIEL HEILMAN NEW YORK Nine Lubavitch hasidim were arrested Wednesday morning when they began attacking police officers who had been called to Lubavitch headquarters to guard the installation of a plaque that referred to Schneerson as the rebbe "of blessed memory." The plaque, which was to be installed at 770 Eastern Parkway to replace an earlier tablet that had been torn down by members of Chabad's messianist faction, eventually was put up under heavy police scrutiny and with the force of a court order. "The fight is a couple of thugs, really, that planned a disruption and cannot be tolerated," said Yehuda Krinsky, a Lubavitch community leader. "Their actions are not justified in any way." Police officials said the nine were arrested for disorderly contact and assaulting police officers. Until recently, a 10-year-old plaque marking the occasion of the expansion of the building and referring to the rebbe "of blessed memory," sat undisturbed and mostly unnoticed, community members said. But a couple of months ago, some messianist scofflaws tore down the plaque under the cover of darkness and replaced it with one that included the messianist reference to Schneerson: "Long live our master, our teacher and our rabbi, the king the messiah, forever and ever," according to a Lubavitch official. Since then, workers trying to restore the right plaque have been blocked by the messianists, and Lubavitch officials had to get a court order to block the interlopers. When Schneerson died in 1994, many Lubavitchers expected he would reveal himself as the Jewish messiah. But when that did not happen, Lubavitch split into factions of those who believed the rebbe passed away and those who held onto the faith that Schneerson really was the messiah. In the decade since his death, the messianists have almost disappeared from Chabad's public face-its worldwide emissaries, known as shluchim-but the messianists have become more dominant in Crown Heights itself, according to an expert on Chabad. On Wednesday, the police were ready when the troublemakers showed up. Lubavitch officials stressed there were no fisticuffs between the various Lubavitchers, only between the "thugs"-as one hasid described the messianists-and the police. "In a manner completely alien to Torah values, this small but vocal group sadly doesn't recognize Torah authorities, judicial authorities, police authority, any authority," said Zalman Shmotkin, a Lubavitch spokesman. Community members say some Lubavitch messianists frequently are disruptive in the community, harassing worshipers at synagogues and disrupting daily prayers and study. "We're concerned at this point where some people who are misguided or maybe inherently not well have tried to do things in a physical way to disrupt services in shul-like this incident with the plaque," Krinsky said. Shmotkin said the actions of this small but vocal group should not overshadow the good works of Chabad. "This small group of misguided people have unfortunately repeatedly desecrated the rebbe's name, causing immeasurable pain to hundreds of thousands of his followers and admirers worldwide," Shmotkin said. "We hope that they will soon learn the error of their current ways and become adherents of the rebbe's ways, the ways of pleasantness and peace."