Cops shut down illicit Orthodox Brooklyn yeshiva school where more than 100 children without masks were taking classes while the rest of the city is on lockdown

An Orthodox school in Brooklyn was shut down by officers from the New York Police Department on Monday after concerned neighbors reported the school was hosting classes in violation of the city’s coronavirus lockdown orders.

Police said there were around 60 people inside Nitra Yeshiva when they arrived at the school at 841 Madison Avenue, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, at noon yesterday. Witnesses, meanwhile, said they saw 'more than 100 children' before officers arrived.

The cops made no arrests and issued no summonses. However the school was ordered to shut down operations immediately and a cease-and-desist order issued by the city’s Health Department was displayed on the front door of the school on Tuesday.

‘Earlier today the NYPD shut down a Yeshiva conducting classes with as many as 70 children. I can’t stress how dangerous this is for our young people.’ Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted Monday, acknowledging the incident. 

‘We’re issuing a Cease and Desist Order and will make sure we keep our communities and our kids safe,' the mayor continued.

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The children arrived in unmarked buses on Monday morning. Residents say they watched on with alarm as large groups of students piled into the school, without masks on

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The cops made no arrests and issued no summonses. However the school was ordered to shut down operations immediately

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Police said there was around 60 people inside Nitra Yeshiva when they arrived at the school at 841 Madison Avenue, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, at around noon yesterday

Residents in the neighborhood surrounding the school are said to have watched on with alarm as groups of children, many not wearing masks, piled off of buses and into the two-story building on Monday morning.

At least two residents tipped off police, reporting that the building was occupied and that they could see large groups of children playing on the school’s roof without protective equipment on.

Witnesses have reported seeing far more children than the 60 students the police department alleged. 

‘Two police units showed. They evacuated the building and brought out about two busloads worth of kids… maybe a hundred,’ Earl Covington, 71, told the Daily News. 

‘It wasn’t the usual buses that dropped the kids off, but a different, private outfit to get them out of here. They should have been more considerate of the neighborhood. They should have observed the protocols of the times of COVID-19.’

NBC New York captured images of the moment large groups of students were forced to leave the school.

The building has no exterior signs or visual indications of who runs the school. The Health Department’s cease-and-desist order was addressed to David Moskowitz, DailyMail.com can reveal.

The order reads that the school has violated the city and state executive order banning non-essential gatherings which has been in place since mid-March. Failure to comply will be a misdemeanor violation of the city’s health code punishable by fines, forfeitures and imprisonment, the order says.

It’s unclear if Moskowitz was at the school when police arrived to shut it down. Officers remained outside of the premises on Tuesday morning.

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At least two residents tipped-off police, reporting that the building was occupied and that they could see large groups of children playing on the school’s roof without masks on

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A cease and desist order issued by the city’s Health Department was displayed on the front door of the school on Tuesday. The order reads that the school has violated the city and state executive order banning non-essential gatherings which has been in place since mid-March

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Police remained outside the Nitra Yeshiva on Tuesday morning, as the school is set to remain closed until New York begins easing lockdown orders

The incident at Nitra Yeshiva comes as the latest of several that have ignited tensions between law enforcement and Hasidic Jews since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.

COVID-19 has ravaged the Hasidic community at a higher rate than other ethnic or religious groups, public health data suggests - but despite this, violations of social distancing rules have been frequently occurring in Hasidim areas.

Frictions reached fever pitch last month when 2,500 mourners gathered on the streets of Williamsburg to mourn the death of a prominent rabbi. Police issued 12 summonses to mourners for various offenses, including disorderly conduct.

Mayor de Blasio, who went to Brooklyn to personally oversee the dispersal of the crowd, fiercely rebuked the gathering and later vowed to enforce social distancing more vigorously.

Just two days later, police issued five fire code violations and six summonses after officers found large groups of worshipers hiding in two Hasidic synagogues, Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar and Congregation Darkei Tshivo of Dinov, both located in Williamsburg.

The doors at both of the houses of worship had been chained shut and black garbage bags had been stacked up to cover the windows. Inside, they found more than 100 children spread across two rooms.

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The incident at Nitra Yeshiva comes as the latest of several incidents that have ignited tensions between law enforcement and Hasidic Jews since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak

De Blasio has drawn criticism from Orthodox Jewish leaders for the city’s response to the funeral, who noted that other gatherings in city parks, including those who came out to watch a Blue Angels and Thunderbirds flyover earlier that day hadn’t been broken up.

He was later accused of singling out the Jewish community and encouraging anti-Semitism when he later tweeted: ‘My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed.’

However, most Orthodox leaders, however, have vowed to adhere to the restrictions during the lockdown.

‘Talmud says, “the law of the land is the law,”’ Natfuli Moster, founder of the yeshiva reform group YAFFED, told The New York Post. ‘Yeshiva leaders need to restore cultural compliance with state and local regulations. This applies to all guidelines pertaining to children’s schooling.’