Australian Border Force admits planned visa crackdown was a mistake

A protest that caused a busy section of the Melbourne CBD to be shut down, has led to a planned security blitz to be cancelled.

Angry protesters gathered outside Flinders Street Station to protest the visa crackdown planned by the Australian Border Force and Victoria Police for tonight and tomorrow night as part of Operation Fortitude.

Border Force released a press release that said they would be "speaking with any individual" they "cross paths with" and warned that "if you commit visa fraud you should know it's only a matter of time before you're caught out".

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An immediate online backlash led the force to clarify on Twitter that it would not "stop people at random in the streets and does not target on the basis of race, religion, or ethnicity".

Border Force Commissioner Roman Quaedvlieg later admitted the visa crackdown announcement was a mistake.

"It's clumsily worded and it's been misconstrued and it shouldn't have been worded that way," he said.

"It's an unfortunate incident, it shouldn't have occurred, remediation will be put into place but it's not a fatal embarrassment."

As protesters stormed into Flinders Street Station, a retreat was already being organised.

In the end, what was meant to be a show of strength, turned into an embarrassing back down. Police not only cancelled the news conference, they cancelled the entire operation.

Victoria Police said they were influenced by the "high level of community concern".

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews backed police, hitting out at what he called "the unfortunate and inappropriate characterisation by the Australian Border Force".

The union representing Border Force workers said the officers themselves had expressed concern publicity that this operation threatened their own safety.