Every year, a group of conspiracy theorists gathers on November 22 at Dealey Plaza in Dallas, Texas, to commemorate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. But the group has been denied a permit for 2013 because the city plans to observe the 50th anniversary of the tragic event, and it doesn’t want alternative theories over who was behind the killing to be a distraction.

The anniversary will include readings from Kennedy speeches by historian David McCullough and a military jet flyover. But members of the Coalition on Political Assassinations, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that studies 1960s murders of public figures, won’t be welcome.

John Judge, the group’s executive director, called the decision “absurd,” according to The Wall Street Journal. “Our First Amendment rights are being violated,” he said.

Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings has said he will meet with Judge’s group to hear their concerns. But, he added, the event will focus on Kennedy the man, not his assassination.

Many Americans (76% in a 2009 CBS survey) believe more than one person was responsible for Kennedy’s death, which the government attributed solely to Lee Harvey Oswald.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Leran More:

JFK Conspiracy Theorists Seek Inclusion in Ceremony (by Ana Campoy, Wall Street Journal)

Occupy Dealey Plaza (by Jim DiEugenio, Occupy the Grassy Knoll)