Angelina Masuku, left, a senior member of the ruling ZANU PF, greets Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe at the party headquarters in Harare. Hundreds of veterans of Zimbabwe's guerrilla war for black rule marched through the capital Friday, leaving little doubt they were out to intimidate Mugabe's political opponents.

Harare, Zimbabwe ? War veterans marched Friday in Zimbabwe’s capital – a muscular show of support for President Robert Mugabe, whose party said he would fight to retain his 28-year grip on power in a runoff election with the opposition leader.

A week after Morgan Tsvangirai’s opposition party made a strong showing at the polls, it was clear the 84-year-old Mugabe still had at his disposal the feared veterans of the bush war that helped end white minority rule, as well as the backing of the equally feared security forces.

Offices of the main opposition party were ransacked Thursday and police detained foreign journalists.

Mugabe has ruled since his guerrilla army helped bring about an independent Zimbabwe in 1980, but his popularity has been battered by an economic slide that followed the often-violent seizures of white-owned commercial farms in 2000.

With inflation in Zimbabwe raging at more than 100,000 percent, authorities introduced a new bank note denominated at 50 million Zimbabwe dollars Friday, state media said. The new note is worth $1 at the widely used black market trading rate and can buy just three loaves of bread.

While official results from the March 29 presidential election still had not been released, independent observers earlier projected a runoff, saying Tsvangirai won the most votes but not the 50 percent-plus-one majority needed for an outright victory.

The election commission announced more results Friday in races for the 60 elected Senate seats, with the opposition winning 23 to the ruling party’s 20.

The opposition filed suit Friday asking the courts to force the release of the presidential results, party spokesman Nelson Chamisa said.

He said the suit called the delay in results unjustified and said it had resulted in “a lot of anxiety being created among the (opposition), the nation at large and the international community.” He said a hearing was expected today.