Armand can be very affectionate! It's just that sometimes, he expresses it by busting down your door with a battleaxe because you're ignoring him.

[For the headcanons:] Of all of heavenly bodies, the fairest; the moon shifting from full to crescent to new. The Earth’s most trusted servant, my dreams orphic larcener… Am I being clear enough? :3c

You know what you’ve done, don’t you? You KNOW I can’t do THAT in 100 words. Well, you’ve asked for it. 

Headcanon A:  realistic

I think my most realistic headcanon is my bipolar disorder diagnosis for Armand. It is timidly shared by one or two specialists among the handful that ever considered the question, but not enough to make it a serious historical fact. So at this point, it’s still headcanon. 

There are traces of him going through phases of reckless, ecstatic dominance, followed, at the slightest failure, by a rapid crumbling of his health and mood, with significant symptoms of self-harm (self-starving, refusal of medicine…). Medici herself once said that though he could be shot down by the mere misfortune, he was “worse than a dragon” when the wind blew his way. Success was likely to trigger feeling of supreme power and invincibility in him, pushing him to headstrong extreme “conquest” behavior, as in La Rochelle, or in the Huguenot wars that followed around 1629/1630, where he took drastic military and political measures without a sign of hesitation, building schemes and systems, overworking himself with no regard for his own health. Then, at the (false) news of Medici gaining the favor of the King in November 1630, he crumbled in one day from all-victorious to sickbed, stopped working entirely, refused all food or care, and called for death. 

He is also likely to have developed, as consequence or in addition to his bipolar disorder, a form of anxiety, with his paranoia, insomnia, and general state of agitation clearly growing over the years (his conduct during the Cinq Mars plot very much beyond reason at this stage of his life).

As mental illness is my work and my passion, I of course emphasize the disorder in my writing and art, adding the finger biting to the self-harm symptoms, because GOTHIC AESTHETIC, and low self-esteem/ extreme guilt to his self-punishment behavior.  It doesn’t make him more interesting than the original, it only makes him more complex for me to handle, and I enjoy that so very much. It might be Cardinal abuse, but I swear I only gave him more sickness to make the therapy and care (might it be from Treville, or Louis) more epic.

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

((It’s kinda hard to be funny with my Richelieu, I now realise. He is many things, but fuck he ain’t fun at all. ))

BUT. I have been keeping this headcanon for a while without ever finding an opportunity to insert it into my writing. My headcanon is Armand does try to be funny from time to time, but it’s always in very subtle, very sarcastic way, and almost always in private. With Joseph, by example, he really can put on a show. He quotes the words of an annoying diplomat earlier in the day with dreadful accuracy, ridiculous accent included. He’s quite gifted with impersonations actually, and it send Joseph rolling on the floor in tears of laughter. By example, as Richelieu led a French diplomatic delegation to the Court of Frederic-Henri of the United Provinces, known for his avarice, he bit his lips real hard not to laugh in front of the wealthiest man in Europe yelling “PARCIMONY” to his servants every time they poured wine to the guests to encourage them to be thrifty. He keeps using this word for YEARS after, dropped under his breath from time to time as wine is poured in his glass, with a perfect imitation of Frederic-Henri’s accent at the most unexpected times.

(Joseph, distractedly)-“Do you want more wine, Eminence?

(Richelieu nods, but as Joseph pours wine he suddenly mutters: )-“Parcimony!

(Joseph, snorting VERY LOUD)-“PPPRRFFTT !

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

Since the summer of 1620, Armand has been doing these discrete journeys to Anjou at least once a year. He had to grow more careful as years went by and his rise to power unfolded, but hiding things has never been a weak point for him. He goes alone with a trusted carriage driver, and crawls around daybreak through the back door of that miserable castle of Milly. He never wears robes for those visits, and may it be summer or winter, he hides his shoulders under the same nameless brown coat. He never looks up in this doorframe, he keeps his eyes low, with the same soft sadness hung around the corners of his mouth.The valet knows him, he doesn’t ask questions. He simply nods, and leads him to the same small room, to the same thick gates where every year one more lock has been nailed. The room is dark, because the windows have been broken too many times to be replaced, and the shutters are locked forevermore.

On the wide bed, between medicine and torn gazettes, someone lies there, curled on the side and humming softly.

-“Bonjour, Nicole” Armand says, but she never looks at him.

She sings, most of the times, she sings or recites shattered verses of a Bible only she knows of. She prays, most of the times, ignoring the gentle touch of Armand’s resigned care.

Then at some point, she screams at him.

She screams, spitting on his shoes, spitting on his hands, and she insults him so loud, so violent, that three valets need to barge in to pin her down. She shouts, twisting in her sheets, and the solid ropes around her wrists creak in their effort. Armand just steps back, lowers his head and looks aside.

Every year, she gets thinner. Every year they have to tighten up the knots. Every year she gets dirtier, her eyes wild and her hair thick. Every year she steps further into darkness, that darkness Armand knows so well, because every day of his own life, he spends dancing on the edge of it.

-“Bonjour Nicole”, he breathes, but she doesn’t recognize him anymore.

He sits, then, on that chair next to the bed, the same chair every time, and for one hour exactly, he just watches that woman die, swallowed by madness, inch by inch, day by day. He sits in desperate silence and watches, for one hour a year, over what remains of his younger sister.

What remains of his family.

Henri and Françoise, both dead and buried. Alphonse, barely coherent. Isabelle, exiled.

Nicole is all he has left.

And she’s tied to a bed twisting and shouting in her own excrements. He watches, for one hour no less, one hour no more, and eventually he gets up to leave.

-“Au revoir, Nicole” he tells her every time, but she’ll never answer.

He’ll walk out in a sigh, eyes low, wrapping his frame in that same cloak. It happens every year, even in his busiest times, until the shortest of letters, written by the local physician, informs him, 1635, that there is nothing left to visit anymore.

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own.

I think the biggest twist I inflicted to history is Richelieu’s sexuality. He was historically very straight and that’s a fact, the gonorrhea he caught in his early life with tavern whores and his ambiguous adoration for his niece D’Aiguillon might be enough evidence. 

But for my own devious purposes I erased D’Aiguillon from existence and made Armand more opportunistic than straight, feeling sexually attracted to people he looks up to, for virtue or power, and if they happen to be men, well, so be it. I added a whole system of submission kink to that, all of it derived from the fact that his only purpose was to serve France and the King, and this is of course pure invention, because I find the idea of the most powerful man alive in France at this time kneeling in front of the man he loves because he craves for relief from responsibility and power ABSOLUTELY PERFECT. 

It adds contrast to the character, it adds surprise, and it makes him more real, more conflicted. He actually struggled and schemed and plotted to gain himself absolute power, all of this because he wants to serve the absolute. The moment of switch between the almighty Generalissime Minister Richelieu and the lovely devoted whimpering creature he can be in bed is pure beauty to me. The sigh of relief, the floof of robes as he drops on his knees. Unf.

That also allows me to insert more GOTHIC AESTHETIC such as soft BDSM and the active search for pain. It blends smoothly into the mental illness patterns I made up for him and creates intense emotional porn, which is My JamTM.

Events 5.5

553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins. 1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta. 1260 – Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire. 1494 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica and claims it for Spain. 1640 – King Charles I of England dissolves the Short Parliament. 1654 – Cromwell's Act of Grace, aimed at reconciliation with the Scots, proclaimed in Edinburgh. 1762 – Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg. 1789 – In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614. 1809 – Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread. 1809 – The Swiss canton of Aargau allows citizenship to Jews. 1811 – Peninsular War: In the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro, the British-Portuguese Army repels an attempt by the French Army of Portugal to relieve the besieged city of Almeida. 1821 – Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. 1835 – The first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen. 1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi sets sail from Genoa, leading the expedition of the Thousand to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and giving birth to the Kingdom of Italy. 1862 – Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico. 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County. 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate District of the Gulf surrenders about 4,000 men at Citronelle, Alabama. 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate government was declared dissolved at Washington, Georgia. 1866 – Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York. 1877 – American Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles. 1886 – The Bay View massacre: A militia fires into a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, killing seven. 1891 – The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor. 1904 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball. 1905 – The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder. 1912 – Pravda, the "voice" of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, begins publication in Saint Petersburg. 1920 – Authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder. 1925 – Scopes Trial: Serving of an arrest warrant on John T. Scopes for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act. 1927 – To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is first published. 1936 – Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 1940 – World War II: Norwegian refugees form a government-in-exile in London. 1940 – World War II: Norwegian Campaign: Norwegian squads in Hegra Fortress and Vinjesvingen capitulate to German forces after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway had laid down their arms. 1941 – Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots' Victory Day. 1945 – World War II: The German surrender at Lüneburg Heath becomes effective, encompassing all German armed forces opposing the 21st Army Group in northwestern Germany, Denmark, and the Netherlands. 1945 – World War II: Dönitz gives Löhr permission to seek an armistice with the Western Allies to preserve a communist free Austria and recognising first, from a German standpoint, the separation of Austria from Germany undoing the Anschluss. 1945 – World War II: The Prague uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation. 1945 – World War II: A Fu-Go balloon bomb launched by the Japanese Army kills six people near Bly, Oregon. 1945 – World War II: Battle of Castle Itter, the only battle in which American and German troops fought cooperatively. 1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. 1950 – Bhumibol Adulyadej is crowned as King of Thailand. 1955 – The General Treaty, by which France, Britain and the United States recognize the sovereignty of West Germany, comes into effect. 1961 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight. 1964 – The Council of Europe declares May 5 as Europe Day. 1972 – Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy. 1973 – Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59​2⁄5, an as-yet unbeaten record. 1980 – Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege. 1981 – Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27. 1985 – Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech. 1987 – Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America 1991 – A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadoran man. 1992 – Armand Césari Stadium disaster in Bastia (Corsica): Eighteen people are killed and 2,300 are injured when one of the terraces collapses before a football match between SC Bastia and Olympique de Marseille. 1993 – Three eight-year-old boys are murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, Ultimately leading to the conviction of the West Memphis Three. 1994 – The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. 1994 – American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism. 1998 – A Peruvian Air Force Boeing 737 operating for Occidental Petroleum crashes on approach to Alférez FAP Alfredo Vladimir Sara Bauer Airport in Andoas, Peru, killing 75 people. 2006 – The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army. 2007 – Kenya Airways Flight 507 crashes after takeoff from Douala International Airport in Douala, Cameroon, killing all 114 aboard, making it the deadliest aircraft disaster in Cameroon. 2010 – Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis. 2014 – Eleven people are missing after a Chinese cargo ship collides with a Marshall Islands registered container ship off the coast of Hong Kong. 2014 – Twenty-two people die after two boats carrying refugees collide in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Greece. 2019 – A Russian jet plane burst into flames while attempting an emergency landing at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow killing at least 41 people.

Events 5.5

553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins. 1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta. 1260 – Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire. 1494 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica and claims it for Spain. 1640 – King Charles I of England dissolves the Short Parliament. 1654 – Cromwell's Act of Grace, aimed at reconciliation with the Scots, proclaimed in Edinburgh. 1762 – Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg. 1789 – In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614. 1809 – Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread. 1809 – The Swiss canton of Aargau allows citizenship to Jews. 1811 – In the second day of fighting at the Peninsular War Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro the French army, under Marshall André Masséna, drive in the Duke of Wellington's overextended right flank, but French frontal assaults fail to take the town of Fuentes de Oñoro and the Anglo-Portuguese army holds the field at the end of the day. 1821 – Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. 1835 – The first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen. 1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi sets sail from Genoa, leading the expedition of the Thousand to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and giving birth to the Kingdom of Italy. 1862 – Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico. 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County. 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate District of the Gulf surrenders about 4,000 men at Citronelle, Alabama. 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate government was declared dissolved at Washington, Georgia. 1866 – Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York. 1877 – American Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles. 1886 – The Bay View massacre: A militia fires into a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, killing seven. 1891 – The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor. 1904 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball. 1905 – The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder. 1912 – Pravda, the "voice" of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, begins publication in Saint Petersburg. 1920 – Authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder. 1925 – Scopes Trial: Serving of an arrest warrant on John T. Scopes for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act. 1927 – To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is first published. 1936 – Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 1940 – World War II: Norwegian refugees form a government-in-exile in London. 1940 – World War II: Norwegian Campaign: Norwegian squads in Hegra Fortress and Vinjesvingen capitulate to German forces after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway had laid down their arms. 1941 – Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots' Victory Day. 1945 – World War II: Denmark is liberated from German occupation by British forces. 1945 – World War II: The Prague uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation. 1945 – World War II: Six people are killed when a Japanese fire balloon explodes near Bly, Oregon. They are the only Americans killed in the contiguous US during the war. 1945 – World War II: Battle of Castle Itter, the only battle in which American and German troops fought cooperatively. 1945 – World War II: German forces in the Netherlands surrender to Allied forces, ending the occupation by Nazi Germany. 1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. 1950 – Bhumibol Adulyadej is crowned as King of Thailand. 1955 – The General Treaty, by which France, Britain and the United States recognize the sovereignty of West Germany, comes into effect. 1961 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight. 1964 – The Council of Europe declares May 5 as Europe Day. 1972 – Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy. 1973 – Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59 2/5, an as-yet unbeaten record. 1980 – Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege. 1981 – Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27. 1985 – Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech. 1987 – Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America 1991 – A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadoran man. 1992 – Armand Césari Stadium disaster in Bastia (Corsica): 18 people are killed and 2,300 are injured when one of the terraces collapses before a football match between SC Bastia and Olympique de Marseille. 1994 – The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. 1994 – American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism. 2006 – The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army. 2010 – Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis. 2014 – Eleven people are missing after a Chinese cargo ship collides with a Marshall Islands registered container ship off the coast of Hong Kong. 2014 – Twenty-two people die after two boats carrying refugees collide in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Greece.

Events 5.5

553 – The Second Council of Constantinople begins. 1215 – Rebel barons renounce their allegiance to King John of England — part of a chain of events leading to the signing of the Magna Carta. 1260 – Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the Mongol Empire. 1494 – Christopher Columbus lands on the island of Jamaica and claims it for Spain. 1640 – King Charles I of England dissolves the Short Parliament. 1654 – Cromwell's Act of Grace, aimed at reconciliation with the Scots, proclaimed in Edinburgh. 1762 – Russia and Prussia sign the Treaty of St. Petersburg. 1789 – In France, the Estates-General convenes for the first time since 1614. 1809 – Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread. 1809 – The Swiss canton of Aargau allowed citizenship to Jews. 1811 – In the second day of fighting at the Peninsular War Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro the French army, under Marshall André Masséna, drive in the Duke of Wellington's overextended right flank, but French frontal assaults fail to take the town of Fuentes de Oñoro and the Anglo-Portuguese army holds the field at the end of the day. 1821 – Emperor Napoleon dies in exile on the island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. 1835 – The first railway in continental Europe opens between Brussels and Mechelen. 1860 – Giuseppe Garibaldi sets sail from Genoa, leading the expedition of the Thousand to conquer the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and giving birth to the Kingdom of Italy. 1862 – Cinco de Mayo: Troops led by Ignacio Zaragoza halt a French invasion in the Battle of Puebla in Mexico. 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of the Wilderness begins in Spotsylvania County. 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate District of the Gulf surrenders about 4,000 men at Citronelle, Alabama. 1865 – American Civil War: The Confederate government was declared dissolved at Washington, Georgia. 1866 – Memorial Day first celebrated in United States at Waterloo, New York. 1877 – American Indian Wars: Sitting Bull leads his band of Lakota into Canada to avoid harassment by the United States Army under Colonel Nelson Miles. 1886 – The Bay View massacre: A militia fires into a crowd of protesters in Milwaukee, killing seven. 1891 – The Music Hall in New York City (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance, with Tchaikovsky as the guest conductor. 1904 – Pitching against the Philadelphia Athletics at the Huntington Avenue Grounds, Cy Young of the Boston Americans throws the first perfect game in the modern era of baseball. 1905 – The trial in the Stratton Brothers case begins in London, England; it marks the first time that fingerprint evidence is used to gain a conviction for murder. 1912 – Pravda, the "voice" of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, begins publication in Saint Petersburg. 1920 – Authorities arrest Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti for alleged robbery and murder. 1925 – Scopes Trial: Serving of an arrest warrant on John T. Scopes for teaching evolution in violation of the Butler Act. 1925 – The government of South Africa declares Afrikaans an official language. 1927 – To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf is first published. 1936 – Italian troops occupy Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 1940 – World War II: Norwegian refugees form a government-in-exile in London. 1940 – World War II: Norwegian Campaign: Norwegian squads in Hegra Fortress and Vinjesvingen capitulate to German forces after all other Norwegian forces in southern Norway had laid down their arms. 1941 – Emperor Haile Selassie returns to Addis Ababa; the country commemorates the date as Liberation Day or Patriots' Victory Day. 1944 – German troops execute 216 civilians in the village of Kleisoura, Greece. 1945 – World War II: The Prague uprising begins as an attempt by the Czech resistance to free the city from German occupation. 1945 – World War II: Six people are killed when a Japanese fire balloon explodes near Bly, Oregon. They are the only Americans killed in the continental US during the war. 1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East begins in Tokyo with twenty-eight Japanese military and government officials accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. 1950 – Bhumibol Adulyadej is crowned as King of Thailand. 1955 – The General Treaty, by which France, Britain and the United States recognize the sovereignty of West Germany, comes into effect. 1961 – Alan Shepard becomes the first American to travel into outer space, on a sub-orbital flight. 1964 – The Council of Europe declares May 5 as Europe Day. 1972 – Alitalia Flight 112 crashes into Mount Longa near Palermo, Sicily, killing all 115 aboard, making it the deadliest single-aircraft disaster in Italy. 1973 – Secretariat wins the 1973 Kentucky Derby in 1:59 2/5, an as-yet unbeaten record. 1980 – Operation Nimrod: The British Special Air Service storms the Iranian embassy in London after a six-day siege. 1981 – Bobby Sands dies in the Long Kesh prison hospital after 66 days of hunger-striking, aged 27. 1985 – Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech. 1987 – Iran–Contra affair: Start of Congressional televised hearings in the United States of America 1991 – A riot breaks out in the Mt. Pleasant section of Washington, D.C. after police shoot a Salvadoran man. 1992 – Armand Césari Stadium disaster in Bastia (Corsica): 18 people are killed and 2,300 are injured when one of the terraces collapses before a football match between SC Bastia and Olympique de Marseille. 1994 – The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. 1994 – American teenager Michael P. Fay is caned in Singapore for theft and vandalism. 2006 – The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army. 2010 – Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis. 2014 – Eleven people are missing after a Chinese cargo ship collides with a Marshall Islands registered container ship off the coast of Hong Kong. 2014 – Twenty-two people die after two boats carrying refugees collide in the Aegean Sea off the coast of Greece.