OSAKA -- The Osaka District Court on Thursday rejected a lawsuit filed by 26 people demanding compensation for the city's clearing away in December 1998 of tents used by the homeless along the sidewalk in Nishinari Ward.

The plaintiffs maintained that the city's action violated the constitutional freedom to choose a residence and demanded the city pay them 1 million yen each in damages.

In handing down Thursday's ruling and deeming the city's action legal, Judge Ikuo Yamashita said the plaintiffs did not have the right to occupy the space in question.

"The order was exercised in the midst of winter, and as such, the plaintiffs' desire to at least have the removal pushed back to spring is not incomprehensible," Yamashita said.

However, the judge said the municipality was not overstepping the law in having the tents removed.

The plaintiffs said they will appeal the ruling.

According to the court, on Dec. 11, 1998, the city ordered the tents and goods being used by the homeless living on the pavement of a municipal road to leave the premises on grounds that local residents could not use the sidewalk and that the tents had a "bad influence" on the educational activities of a nearby junior high school.

Because the tents' owners refused to comply, the city forcibly removed the tents on Dec. 28.

The plaintiffs argued that the act violates Article 25 of the Constitution, which says that all people shall have the right to maintain the minimum standards of wholesome and cultured living.

But the court said the city had taken steps such as offering temporary shelter, and as such could not be accused of threatening the plaintiffs' health or survival.