“Brazen” doesn’t even begin to describe the attitude of the Hizballah supporters in Windsor, Ontario: Backers defend controversial sign.

The people responsible for a controversial billboard depicting Hezbollah’s leader said they did it to honour their freedom fighting families back home — and it’s their Canadian right to do so.

“In Canada we want peace,” said Hussein Dabaja, a Lebanese-born Hezbollah supporter. “We’re not trying offend anybody. We have freedom of speech. It’s a free country. We can do anything. Every Lebanese in Canada has somebody that died in Lebanon, the freedom fighters. Who is Hezbollah? Our brothers, our family, our parents, our friends. We came to Canada and they stayed there to fight.”

The billboard went up Friday at the corner of Wyandotte Street East and Marion Avenue, and immediately drew fire from the Windsor Jewish Community Centre, the Lebanese Christian political group Kataeb and others.

Among other Lebanese leaders, the sign prominently depicts Hassan Nasrallah, the head of the political and military group representing Shia Muslims. Hezbollah, considered a terrorist organization by the Canadian government, was created in 1982 primarily to resist the Israeli occupation of Lebanon that lasted two decades.

“The sign shows the Lebanese community finally got a chance to express their feelings about what is going on, to show respect,” said sign supporter Ayat Choukeir. “Before we were Canadians we were all Lebanese. To see a part of Lebanon in our city makes us really happy.”

Dabaja said the billboard was not meant to be an anti-Jewish statement.

“People who have something against the billboard don’t like Hezbollah and they don’t want peace,” he said.