Victorian Police have admitted they were unprepared for last month's attack on Camp Sovereignty, as Melbourne's CBD braces for rallies this weekend.

Camp Sovereignty, established in 2006 by Krautungalung Elder Robbie Thorpe, is described as a place of peace where community members can gather, yarn and reflect. It is also the resting place for the repatriated remains of 38 Aboriginal Victorians.

The alleged attack followed a series of anti-immigration rallies across the country. Around 40 men dressed in black — many linked to the National Socialist Network (NSN), some carrying flagpoles and sticks — stormed the Indigenous camp.

Footage showed the men verbally abusing camp members, stomping on the Aboriginal flag, and chanting "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi oi oi" before fleeing as police arrived. Several people were injured.

NSN leader Thomas Sewell was denied bail on Friday and faces 25 charges, including violent disorder, affray, assault by kicking, and discharge of a missile. Six other men have also been charged.

On Wednesday, Victorian Police Superintendent Troy Papworth admitted the force "didn't have intelligence to suggest that there was going to be any issues with Camp Sovereignty" before the rallies.

He declined to detail what protections were in place, but said the site was now a police priority.

"I won't go into our operational considerations on how we're structuring up our people, but Camp Sovereignty is absolutely front of mind for us in making sure that people are safe," he said.

"We don't condone violence against any particular groups, and we don't want to see that happen again in the city. So it will be front of mind for us in making sure that we are well-resourced and well-deployed across the CBD to address any sort of violence."

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Many, including Robbie Thorpe and his niece, Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe, have questioned why police failed to monitor the far-right group after the rally.

Speaking to National Indigenous Times last week, Senator Thorpe said the attack should be treated as a hate crime, as similar incidents at other places of worship have been.

"When other places of worship have been attacked in the past, the condemnation in the media is widespread," she said.

"Now this is our place of worship. People were assaulted. Flags were stomped on the ground. Fires were put out. Sacred fires were put out.

"Just because we don't have bricks and mortar. We have our land, and this is how we worship our land and our water and our people and our animals in the sky, and the air that we breathe. We have a spirituality that you can't always see, and that's certainly what you find at Camp Sovereignty."

In the Senate, Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy described the attack as "hateful violence".

"We've seen the chilling footage; dozens of men wearing black storming Camp Sovereignty in Melbourne — a culturally significant site seen as sacred by many, where First Nations people have held a vigil to care for the remains of ancestors," she said.

"We saw footage of men armed with sticks and rods. We saw brutal beatings of people at the camp. We saw the Aboriginal flag — an official flag — stomped into the mud.

"But they came to do more than that. They came to stoke fear and they came to silence."

A "Sovereignty Never Ceded, National Day of Action" rally is planned for Saturday in solidarity with Camp Sovereignty. Police have warned that neo-Nazis may again be present in the city and Superintendent Papworth condemned groups who use protests as cover for violence.

"What we're seeing is these people using the excuse of lawful and peaceful protest to come together and commit violence against one another," he said.

Victoria Police has declared part of the CBD a designated area for Saturday, giving officers additional powers to search people for weapons and to order protesters to remove face coverings.

"Due to the violence we saw on the streets of Melbourne two weeks ago and our intelligence pointing towards these groups again intent on coming together and clashing, police have no choice but to put together a significant police response," Superintendent Papworth said.