BELOW: Neil clashes with a community legal centre executive about the issue.

It’s time to call a spade a spade, says Neil Mitchell.

The 3AW Mornings host said there was no doubt Melbourne had a problem with racially-based gangs.

He slammed the government’s response to Saturday night’s CBD riots, saying it was too slow.

He said authorities were ‘too scared’ to do anything in fear of being labelled racist.

‘One of the first things they did after the riot was release a message to police warning them that Victoria Police had a zero tolerance approach to racial profiling – what about zero tolerance to the thugs?’ Neil Mitchell said.

‘We can’t dodge this.

‘There is a racial element to it. The gangs are organised mostly on racial grounds.

‘Call a spade a spade. Don’t pander to them.

‘The message I get is police are too frightened to stop them now because they will be accused of racial profiling.’

Click PLAY below to hear Neil Mitchell’s full take on 3AW Mornings?

But not everyone agrees.

Anthony Kelly is the Executive Officer at the Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre and was involved in the 2013 legal case that found Victoria Police had been racially profiling members of the African community.

He accused Neil Mitchell of making the problem worse by bringing race into the argument.

It’s fair to say things got heated from there…

Click PLAY below to hear the full exchange on 3AW Mornings