PP-Led Protests Overshadow Ceuta's Local Holiday; Madrid Denies Permit for Cibeles Rally

On Ceuta's annual 'Día de Ceuta' holiday, PP leader Alberto Núñez Feijóo visits the city for official commemorations before joining a Madrid solidarity rally at Plaza de Cibeles alongside Vox leader Santiago Abascal, a day ahead of Sánchez's Sept 3 Congress appearance on the crisis. Madrid's central-government delegation denies a permit for the Cibeles concentration convened by the FEMP (Spanish Federation of Municipalities), which the PP frames as government sabotage; Feijóo says on social media the government 'lies and abandons the people of Ceuta and tries to sabotage today's demonstrations.' Government spokeswoman Elma Saiz accuses the PP of 'instrumentalising' the FEMP as it previously did the Senate, though several Socialist mayors join the rally regardless.