Packers' Watson goes to hospital with chest injury in 2nd quarter. Then he returns to the game.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson hurt his chest bad enough to get sent to the hospital Thursday night.

Hours later, he was back on the field — broken rib and all — helping his team finish off a 27-19 victory over the Carolina Panthers. It was the type of stunning transformation seen more often in professional wrestling than in actual non-scripted sports.

“I used to watch WWE as a kid,” Watson said after the game. “I felt like I was watching ‘WWE Smackdown vs. Raw’ or something, seeing the cameras on me when I was coming out of the ambulance. That was a little crazy.”

Watson's teammates offered stunned reactions after the game as they tried in vain to remember any other instances of a player returning to a game after getting sent to the hospital.

“That's some crazy (stuff), right there,” safety Javon Bullard said.

Watson's injury occurred in the second quarter as he made a 53-yard catch, with Carolina Panthers cornerback Will Lee also getting hurt on the play while making a diving stop. Lee was carted into the locker room with a hamstring injury and didn't return to the game.

“I couldn’t breathe on the field,” Watson said. “I got the wind knocked out of me. I got back to the sideline and I was kind of spitting up some blood or something like that. So the doctor said I had to go get a CT (scan)."

Watson said the CT scan showed no signs of internal bleeding, but he did break a rib on the play. Watson said he probably spent between 45 minutes and an hour at the hospital before getting transported back to Lambeau Field.

He put some padding on the broken rib and got himself ready to play again.

“I think it shows resiliency, I think it shows toughness and I think it just shows the love that he has for this team,” safety Xavier McKinney said.

Watson already had six catches for 100 yards at the time of his injury as he continued his breakthrough season. Watson has 42 catches for 708 yards — both career highs — through the Packers' first eight games.

No wonder Watson got a huge ovation when he sprinted out of the tunnel and back on the field in the third quarter. His teammates also gave him a hero's welcome.

“I was getting dap-ups like I was getting resurrected or something,” Watson said. “It was crazy. Guys were definitely shocked.”

Watson's return helped the Packers thwart Carolina's comeback attempt, as he finished with eight catches for 113 yards. After Carolina cut a 27-10 deficit to 27-19, Watson had a 7-yard reception on a third-and-2 play with about 2 1/2 minutes left to help the Packers essentially seal the victory.

He never thought about remaining out of the game once the CT scan came back clean. After all the time Watson has missed with a variety of injuries including a torn anterior cruciate ligament, he wants to make the most of every opportunity.

“This means everything to me, to be out there on the football field,” he said.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson celebrates on the field after an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) celebrates with fans after winning an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson, left, is tackled by Carolina Panthers cornerback Will Lee III, top, and Zakee Wheatley, Lee and Watson were injured on the play, during the first half of an NFL football game in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) catches a pass as Carolina Panthers cornerback Will Lee III (24) defends, both are injured on the play, during the first half of an NFL football game in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson reacts after catching a pass for a first down during the first half of an NFL football game against the Carolina Panthers in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) catches a pass as Carolina Panthers cornerback Will Lee III (24) defends, both are injured on the play, during the first half of an NFL football game in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Christian Watson (9) is hit by Carolina Panthers safety Zakee Wheatley as he catches a pass for a first down during the first half of an NFL football game in Green Bay, Wis., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)

PARIS (AP) — In France, the bill for a riot could soon be paid from a family’s housing aid. Some people in a violent crowd could be made to pay for windows they never broke.

France’s Senate approved the measure 229-105 this week, less than two weeks after cost-of-living protests spiraled into the country’s worst unrest in years, leading to estimated damage of over 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion). In one weekend, police arrested nearly 2,400 people; authorities say thousands of shops were looted or damaged. Fire gutted Limoges’ 19th-century city hall.

France is not alone: Across Western Europe, governments are reaching past the rioters — to their parents, and to the apps that carry the call to the streets.

And it may not be over. Spanish fact-checker Maldita.es has found calls for Halloween protests in 46 cities in at least nine European countries. Some urge looting.

Officials say the aim is to prevent the next riot and pay for the last. Critics warn that widening responsibility could punish people who committed no violence and make others afraid to protest.

In France, anyone who knowingly joins a group preparing violence could be made to pay up to 10,000 euros ($11,200) for what others destroy. So could anyone who knowingly stays after police order a violent crowd to disperse, for damage done afterward.

Collecting is the hard part, a Senate report says: Offenders often have little money, or income the law protects from seizure.

The bill would open another source: money the state pays to help families live.

French law already generally holds parents liable for damage caused by their children under 18. Under the bill, once a court ruling is final, the money could be deducted from family allowances and housing aid. Senators added the RSA, France’s minimum-income benefit, worth up to about 650 euros ($730) a month for a single person, and even the back-to-school allowance families get for supplies. A minimum amount would remain protected for living expenses.

Communist Sen. Fabien Gay cited monthly deductions of 57 euros ($63) from a household receiving RSA. At that rate, repaying 10,000 euros would take nearly 15 years.

Supporters say victims deserve compensation and taxpayers shouldn’t carry the cost. One large shop window can cost tens of thousands of euros to replace. After riots in 2023, insurers paid 793 million euros ($888 million) on 16,400 claims, according to France Assureurs, the insurers’ federation.

Human rights groups urged lawmakers to reject the bill, warning it could discourage peaceful protest and hurt families who depend on benefits.

Seizing those payments “could have disastrous consequences for the poorest,” Nathalie Godard of Amnesty International France said in a statement.

The far right backed the bill in the conservative-led Senate. Next comes the National Assembly, where no bloc has a majority.

Seizing rioters’ benefits was long an idea of Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party. Now the government has made it its own, and she leads the polls for next spring’s presidential election.

French students call a protest that shuts their school a “blocus,” or blockade. In Barcelona, it became a hashtag.

TikTok posts under the tag called people to Catalonia Square on Saturday, Oct. 24, and QR codes sent them to WhatsApp or Telegram channels, Catalonia’s interior chief, Núria Parlon, told Cadena SER radio.

On paper, it was a protest over education. There was no route, Parlon said. No banners. No manifesto. Just groups of 10 to 15 young men looting stores, burning trash containers and smashing bus stops.

When police arrived, the looters scattered, said an AP journalist who was at the scene.

Police reported 130 arrests, including 76 minors, according to Spanish news agency EFE.

Some TikTok accounts promoting the gatherings disappeared, while others advertised new Halloween protests, Maldita.es reported. In one Telegram group, messages urged people to wear masks and gloves and wait to be told of a shop “without police.”

In Italy, the argument starts with another family. “Behind that shop window there is a family that has invested a lifetime of sacrifices,” Premier Giorgia Meloni said Oct. 20, announcing a security decree after looting in Milan.

Her principle fits in three Italian words: “Chi rompe paga” — you break it, you pay. “And if the one who breaks it is a minor,” she said, “their parents pay.”

Parents now face fines of up to 1,000 euros ($1,120), doubled for a repeat offense, unless they prove they couldn’t have stopped their child. They can be made to pay for damage.

Holding parents accountable may help, said Claudio Bertolotti, director of START InSight, a security research firm, but “fines alone are unlikely to deter teenagers driven by peer pressure or a desire for group recognition.”

Organizing protest violence, even online, now carries four to 12 years in prison.

Telegram and WhatsApp “must shut down such channels when they incite violence,” Parlon said.

Telegram spokesperson Remi Vaughn told The Associated Press the company supports peaceful speech and protest, but “calls for violence, vandalism and theft are explicitly forbidden and are removed whenever discovered.”

He said Telegram had removed such calls linked to protests in Madrid.

TikTok and Meta, which owns WhatsApp, did not respond to requests for comment.

Telegram closed a Barcelona group promoting Halloween looting, but a replacement drew more than 2,000 members, Spanish media reported.

The French bill would let authorities demand removal of certain illegal calls to violence or looting without prior court approval. If they stay up 24 hours, they could order the web addresses blocked. Those decisions could be challenged in court.

The United States is going the other way. Its law generally shields platforms from civil liability for users’ posts, and the Trump administration calls Europe’s rules censorship.

Britain shows the limits of takedowns. After three girls were killed in Southport in 2024, false claims spread online and riots followed. A parliamentary committee found that algorithms amplified harmful material, much of it legal.

Under France’s bill, money meant to house and raise children could help pay for a looted shop.

Associated Press journalists Sylvie Corbet, Joseph Wilson, Hernan Muñoz, Giada Zampano, Kaitlyn Huamani and Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

EDS NOTE: OBSCENITY - Protesters confront police during a demonstration against rising living costs and in support of students’ grievances in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026.(AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

A protester holds a French flag during a demonstration against rising living costs in Lyon, France, Saturday, Oct. 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)

Protesters stand in front of burning bicycles during a demonstration against rising living costs, joining students' grievances, in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

A car burns at Place de La Republique during a protest against rising living costs in Paris, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)

People clean up debris in a street next to burned bicycles the day after a demonstration against rising living costs and in solidarity with students' grievances, in Paris, Sunday, Oct. 18, 2026. (AP Photo/Emma Da Silva)