Photographers slam Victoria Police for their treatment at the weekend’s anti-lockdown protests

Photographers covering Melbourne’s weekend anti-lockdown protests accuse Victoria Police of using ‘unnecessary’ force against them.

Media at Melbourne’s weekend lockdown protests have labelled their treatment by Victoria Police as “appalling” and “unnecessary” and said the force needs to “change their attitude”.

The event drew an estimated 700 anti-lockdown protesters and resulted in a photographer from The Age, Luis Ascui, being pepper sprayed by officers – the incident is now under investigation.

Herald Sun photographer Jason Edwards, who was also covering the protest, said the behaviour by police towards the media was “pretty scary” and they used unnecessary force on people at the event, including the media.

Mr Edwards took vision of a violent fray that unfolded between officers and protesters and he can be heard screaming, “media” at least three times as a police officer is seen running towards him armed with a can of capsicum spray.

Age photographer, Luis Ascui, centre, was pepper sprayed during the protest. Picture: Jason Edwards

“The police officer rushed at me and then I yell ‘media’ as loud as I could and he kept coming until I was running backwards,” he said.

“It’s quite risky to run backwards, it’s one of the most dangerous things as part of our job because you don’t know what is behind you and you can really get hurt.

“He pushes me quite forcefully and if I stood my ground, I have no doubt he would have pushed me to the ground and maybe even pepper sprayed me as well.”

Mr Edwards has been a photographer for 15 years and said the officers at Saturday’s event used too much force on the media and treated them no differently to protesters, including those behaving violently.

“They were very forceful on photographers,” he said.

“You were pushed so hard that if you misstepped you would go down smashing $20,000 worth of cameras.

“They showed no difference between us and this is becoming a more common feature of protests with Victoria Police and the media.”

The lockdown protests which were originally planned to be held in Melbourne’s CBD but due to the city being barricaded off and public transport stopping access to the area, protesters instead gathered at Richmond, protesting through into the nearby suburbs of Hawthorn and Kew.

Mr Ascui, who has been a photographer for 30 years, was carrying three large cameras at the time but despite being easy to identify as a member of the media he was pepper-sprayed by police.

He said it wasn’t until about four hours later he fully recovered and he urged police to immediately “change their attitude”.

“It’s about time the police start treating us – we are going there to work – with the same respect that they wish to be treated,” Mr Ascui said.

“We can get hurt, I’m not complaining about that, but when it’s an assertive decision to go for us knowing we are media people, you cannot tell me they couldn’t tell the difference, that’s nonsense.”

Mr Ascui was helped by other media at the event and attended a nearby house where he could wash out the spray from his eyes.

Mr Edwards said he’s now extra cautious when covering protests to ensure the police can easily identify that he is not a protester and instead a member of the media.

“I will hold up my (media) pass in my left hand while I photograph with my right hand and I will scream, “media, media, media”, because if you don’t give them a very powerful direction they will just continue coming at you, it’s pretty scary,” he said.

Mr Edwards said he was capsicum sprayed by police at lockdown protests in Melbourne on August 21, which he said may have occurred because he got caught in among protesters.

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance’s federal president Marcus Strom said: “It is completely unacceptable for police to attack working journalists”.

“Working journalists have a duty and a legitimate right to attend and report on protests in the public interest and they should be able to do so safely,” he said.

“It’s quite clear that Luis was a working member of the media, carrying visible accreditation from The Age, and working with equipment that demonstrated he was working in a professional capacity.”

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said the matter involving Mr Ascui has been referred to the Professional Standards Command and will be investigated.