Oaxaca, Mexico ? Federal police reopened Oaxaca’s central square Tuesday after painting over the anti-government graffiti that had covered nearly every building in this colonial plaza during a five-month occupation by leftists and striking teachers.

Small skirmishes continued to flare in other parts of the state capital between federal police and protesters seeking the ouster of Gov. Ulises Ruiz. But more shops and restaurants began opening their doors as residents bet that the worst of the violence was over, and sought a return to their workaday lives.

Protesters elsewhere in the city rebuilt street barricades overnight, creating a labyrinth of detours. Burned-out hulks of buses, cars and trucks still littered many intersections, along with the occasional pile of burning tires and rubbish.