Jakarta – Hundreds of supporters of ousted opposition leader Megawati Sukarnoputri marched (Thursday) in Central Jakarta celebrating a minor court victory. Jenny Grant reports the march was part of a build up for weekend actions marking one year since riots in the capital.

The group, which included 124 people injured in riots last July, sang and cheered after the Central Jakarta district court announced it would continue their case to sue Ms. Megawati's rival, Suryadi.

The protesters wore red and black – the colors of ms. megawati's Indonesian Democracy Party – the P-D-I – as they marched from the court down a major road in North Jakarta.

About 100 mobile brigade police armed with semi-automatic weapons prevented the group from marching to Jakarta's main commercial strip. There were no clashes reported.

In june of last year, Mr. Suryadi assumed leadership of the P-D-I at a government-backed congress. One-month later, mass riots broke out in Jakarta after the headquarters of Ms. Megawati's party were invaded by Suryadi supporters and the military.

The national commission on human rights says five people died, 124 were injured, and 16 are missing after the July 27th violence.

One-hundred-24 people who served jail terms of up to four months and three days after the riots have filed a civil action against Mr. Suryadi, five of his P-D-I officials and the Central Jakarta police chief. They are asking for more than four-and-one-half-million dollars.

Chief judge Abas Sumantri of the Central Jakarta court earlier dismissed an appeal by Mr. Suryadi asserting the court had no authority to handle the case. Side in a string of court cases during the past year. One of the riot victims, 50-year old Natsir, said the compensation demand is only a tool to prove the law in Indonesia is working.

Mr. Natsir was one of dozens of people trapped inside the P-D-I headquarters when Suryadi supporters and the military invaded. He said he did not know how many people died last July 27th, because he was pushed into a corner during the raid. He said the protesters included dozens of football fans from the East Java town of Surabaya who are in Jakarta for the national semi-finals this weekend. East Java, the birthplace of Ms. Megawati's father president Sukarno, is a stronghold of the popular figure. The football fans plan to join the commemorative actions planned Saturday and Sunday to mark the anniversary.