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Police Chief Commissioner Simon Overland said Australian police was working hard towards ensuring security for Indian students and a representative was being sent to India to discuss security issues with prospective students.
"We have made a number of arrests this week and we will continue to work harder," Overland said.
"We know we need to make security improvements. We will continue to work and I am happy to meet with a delegation from this group (protestors) this week," he said.
Overland also defended action to disperse protesters, who refused to move from one of the busiest streets of Melbourne till early on Monday morning, saying the police was "entirely justified" in using force to break up the protest.
"Violence is not OK... racism is not OK. I have come here because I understand your concerns... you have made your point. We need to work together on this issue... but now I ask you to go home," he told the protestors.
Overland said there was some force used after students were given the opportunity to leave and they refused to do so.
About 18 youths were detained for allegedly "breaching peace" during the rally as protestors accused the police of "ramrodding" them to break up their sit-in.
Overland said he watched from the Police Operations Centre and he believed that what he saw was appropriate.
The students, however, called off their protest at 5.15 am (local time).
On the query if students were asked to "move on" from their protest, he said they had already made their point and were asked to leave because the intersection needed to be cleared for peak hour traffic.
He said violence, against which they were protesting was "unacceptable" and the police has been working on this issue for 18 months with Indian students and universities.
On the recent spate of attacks on Indians, Overland said he believed that "some of the robbery attacks are racially motivated and others are opportunistic".
"Whatever the motivation, they are not okay, violence is not okay, being robbed is not okay," he said, adding, that there was no place for racism in the community.
"What has been happening to Indian students is unacceptable and we can understand this," he said.
Meanwhile, Federation of Indian Students in Australia (FISA), which spearheaded the massive protest in Melbourne, said in a statement that the rally was aimed at creating awareness about increasing number of what they called 'hate crimes' in Victoria and to promote racial harmony and peace.
Education-related travel is Australia's biggest service export to India, valued at USD 2 billion in 2007-08, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
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Im a promoter for indian artists livin in UK and US and also in india, i organise concerts and bring popular india djs from all part of the world to australia to perform. this january i had organised a concert in sydney city.after the concert we took the artist for early morning meal.we went to Hungry Jacks on george street.after the meal we were coming out and a Lebanese guy pushed the artist of the way and called him "terrorist" obvious reaction of the artist was "pardon me, what did you call me". and the next thing we saw that Lebanese guy punching the artist right in the face.artist ended up broken nose.it was his first time in australia.we called the police by the time police came, the other Lebanese guys had started bashing us for no reason and the other Aus guys on the street were hooting for them and i heard that word "curry" few times. by the end all of us were bleeding, we were out numbered. i felt the 'HATRED' that night, that nobody else can feel unless yur the victim
Yes any attacks on Indian students are to be condemed as are attacks on anyone at all.Shivinder seems to believe that Australians are a racist lot...what a load of rubbish ...we are one of the most multicultural places on earth...much more so than India is.The problem is not racism across the nation..it is the attitudes of young losers in this country who need to be jailed for long periods for their behaviour.Our legal system is pathetic in dealing with assault...the offenders get a short ,usually non-custodial , sentence while the stupid social workers tell us "oh he had a bad upbringing " or "he is upset because his pet hamster died".Australia , like other countries, has various social stratas which span the intellectual ,artistic, middle class etc and also, unfortunately, the halfwit who has been allowed to get away with criminal behaviour due to the disfunctional legal system.Please just demand some stiff legal action against affenders here and we will all be better off.
The recent racist attacks on Indian student are certainly a very uncivilized act by those that just can not grow up. Although, this is a very sad and emotional moment for all those who care about humanity. It is very important at this time to remember that there are good and bad everywhere and not to over-react and answer racism with racism. I hope the thugs responsible for this violence against Indian students will face justice and get a very well-deserving punishment.
Australians are a racist lot. In order to teach them a lesson, we must completely stop studying in their universities and instead study in US/Canada. Aussies coming to India should be given a reciprocative "welcome". Just proves that these guys have not changed much from the ways of their ancestors who were criminals marooned