Yellow vest protesters took to the streets across France during the past weekend for the 45th consecutive week, in opposition to the policies of President Emmanuel Macron.

While more than 10,000 people participated in the demonstrations, 7,500 police officers poured in and armored vehicles arrived to quell any threats by the movement.

Police in riot gear dispersed the protesters, using tear gas on and around the Champs-Elysees Avenue, Saint-Lazare Train Station and Madeleine Plaza.

As of Saturday night, police said 163 people had been arrested, since some protesters set life-threatening fires, smashed up stores and clashed with the police.

"We are being treated like criminals," said a woman protester, who identified herself as Brigitte, according to msn.com.

Since the yellow vest protest movement began in Paris in November, it has resulted in 11 deaths and over 2,000 people injured, including 95 journalists, according to recent reports by the French Mediapart website.

At least 23 demonstrators have also lost their eyesight, all consequences of police action, according to Grenville Cross, senior counsel as well as a law professor and criminal justice analyst.

Also on Saturday, radical protesters brought violence and vandalism to Hong Kong's MTR stations and shopping malls, as the city was roiled by anti-government protests for the 16th week.

In the past weeks, radical protesters have resorted to aggressive means to clash with police: hurling bricks and gasoline bombs at police officers and police vehicles, beaming high-power laser pointers at them, and setting fire to barricades. Some radicals actually attempted to snatch a police officer's revolver.

Some protesters even broke into the police dormitory buildings, leaving words like "misfortune must come to your wife and children" on the wall, said a HK police officer.

In comparison with what happened in France, the HK police have maintained the utmost rationality and restraint, and only used the minimum force in face of escalating violence and possible injuries, and few protesters were arrested.

Hong Kong police remained in their posts and vowed to safeguard the city, even though some people have illegally released the personal information of more than 1,600 HK police officers and their family members online.

In the view of some foreign experts, the police in Britain, France, the US and other Western countries usually take a tough stance and enforce the law decisively to control the situation as soon as possible to deal with radical demonstrations like those in HK.