Indian students welcome proposed changes to toughen Victoria's laws against racial attacks but say they have lost confidence in a police force that racially profiles them.
Federation of Indian Students of Australia (FISA) adviser Gautam Gupta said a series of comments from Victoria Police had prompted Sunday night's protest that was marked by violence and 18 arrests.
FISA had pulled out of the Police-Indian Western Reference Group set up in January to combat attacks on Indians in Melbourne's western suburbs, he said.
"At the first meeting of that particular forum they made a statement that Indians should not speak in their native tongue," Mr Gupta said on Tuesday.
"They completely racially profiled them, we can't be seen to be supporting that ... Indians becoming victims because they carry mobile phones and laptops and shouldn't speak in their own tongue."
He said the reference group had made the situation worse as did comments by Chief Commissioner Simon Overland and Deputy Commissioner Kieran Walshe last week that Indian students were "passive, vulnerable and soft targets".
Mr Overland denied the comments were racist and said they applied to people of all races but Mr Gupta said Indian students felt they made them more vulnerable.
"They actually boosted the ego of people, Indians are now threatened, if we are soft targets, how do we become hard, these rallies were done because of that," he said.
"People are angry, non violence and silence should not be taken as being soft, it should be taken as part of a civil society." Another Indian community leader Nitin Gupta - no relation - said Tuesday's move to factor hate-based crime into sentencing laws was welcomed.
"These laws are necessary, the state government has been slow in responding to the victims of crime and the anger reached a level that caused massive protests," he told reporters.
Gautam Gupta said the laws at least showed there was recognition of the problem "at the highest level".
"These issues are getting out of hand, they need to get in control, we are supporting the government in these initiatives," he said.
Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls says sentencing laws will be amended by the end of the year to require judges to consider motivation and prejudice in sentencing violent offenders.
Mr Hulls said the laws would apply to hate crimes motivated by race, religion, gender or sexual orientation.
