OAXACA, Mexico — The government said yesterday it had not gained complete control of this embattled southern Mexican city despite sending hundreds of federal police who saw protesters erect new barricades and refuse to relinquish their hold on the capital after five months of demonstrations.

Schools in the capital remained closed and most businesses surrounding Oaxaca City’s tense centre stayed shuttered as protesters maintained their calls for the resignation of Gov. Ulises Ruiz, whom they accuse of suppressing dissent and rigging the 2004 elections.

Mexico’s Congress joined those calls on Monday, urging Ruiz to step down as a good-faith measure that could help to resolve the conflict that has paralysed the capital since May. Ruiz rejected the request.

Although striking teachers had promised to go back to work on Monday, only about 4,000 of the state’s 13,000 schools had opened yesterday, none in the capital.