Two Toronto-area men have been charged with hate crimes after waving Hezbollah flags at a protest in late September.

Toronto police said Ahmad Sheikhani, 34, of Oakville and Hamad Khalid Menshed, 34, of Mississauga, were both charged with public incitement of hatred.

The two men, police allege, attended a demonstration in downtown Toronto on Sept. 28, days after a major escalation in the conflict between Lebanon and Israel. Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, the Shia Islamist political party in Lebanon, was assassinated on Sept. 27 in an Israeli airstrike.