French riots: blog reveals life of crash victim

By Kerstin Gehmlich

PARIS (Reuters) - One of the two victims of a moped crash that sparked two days of rioting in a Paris suburb presented himself as a confident teenager scornful of conformists on his blog before his death.

He also confided that he loved his mum and, like most youths his age, he was looking for a steady girlfriend.

The boy whom French media have identified as Moushin, 15, was killed on Sunday with a 16-year old friend in Villiers-le-Bel, when their moped collided with a police car.

Their death sparked two nights of violence, bringing back memories of 2005 riots when youths angry about discrimination torched thousands of cars after two teenagers died electrocuted in a power sub-station after apparently fleeing police.

"You're laughing at me because I'm different," Moushin, who is of immigrant descent, wrote under the pseudonym of Chamoo on his blog (chamo6.skyrock.com/). "But I'm laughing at you because you're all the same."

Many youths in the poor and ethnically diverse suburbs, where unemployment runs up to 40 percent, say they feel discriminated against by police and marginalized by mainstream society.

Posing with sunglasses and a big silver chain around his neck on his blog pictures, Chamoo described himself as a "calm" personality who lived with his parents.

Often using street slang expressions in his entries, he said he did not smoke and liked "bills, coins, cash and checks".