Victoria Police reached a financial settlement with a photographer pepper sprayed at an anti-lockdown protest in Melbourne

The freelance Age photographer was covering an anti-lockdown protest when he was pepper-sprayed by police.

The Age photographer is pepper sprayed Luis Ascui. Protesters met a huge police presence in Richmond last September, blocking off the CBD with a ring of steel. Picture: Jason Edwards.

Victoria Police has paid a financial settlement to a Melbourne photojournalist who was pepper sprayed while covering an anti-lockdown protest late last year.

Authorities are also negotiating a settlement with a sports reporter who was injured by police while reporting on Novak Djokovic’s deportation ahead of the Australian open this year.

The Australian can reveal a confidential financial agreement understood to be worth thousands of dollars was finalised last week between photographer Luis Ascui and Victoria Police as a result of the incident that took place last September that left him injured after being sprayed in the face.

Ascui’s matter and that of Reuters sports journalist Ian Ransom, who was pepper sprayed by police in January this year while covering the fallout from Djokovic being unable to play in the Australian Open, also remain part of an ongoing Professional Standards Command investigation.

The command’s role is to enhance and promote a culture of high ethical standards throughout Victoria Police.

Ascui, 56, was working for The Age newspaper on September 18, when he was covering the anti-lockdown protest in the inner-city suburb of Richmond and in a statement provided to police he detailed the incident that occurred while he was trying to capture images of the unfolding news event.

He was wearing a lanyard permit, a protective helmet and was carrying three cameras at the time he was pepper sprayed and told The Australian at the weekend that working media should be “treated with more respect”.

“We are professionals, we know how to behave,” he said.

“Whenever there’s a protest I wouldn’t look towards the police to be my carer if anything should happen, I will have eyes everywhere and be more cautious.” In a statement provided to police, Ascui said despite being “easily recognisable as a working journalist” because he had “identification and accreditation along with my cameras” he was still attacked.

“I went to photograph a few police pepper spraying some protesters to the left of me, the same police officer turned towards me and aimed the canister towards me where I immediately turned my body to the left and was sprayed on the right side of my body and face,” Ascui wrote.

“While I was trying to recover and trying to take photos another police officer came from my right side aiming the pepper spray canister and hitting me directly in the face and into my open eyes.”

Ascui has previously said that he has little confidence in the internal investigation.

In a separate incident, Ransom, 45, was attending Djokovic’s lawyers’ office on January 10 this year, when the tennis player was seen leaving the building in a car.

In Ransom’s statement provided to police and seen by The Australian, he said, “without notice a male police officer standing at or about the top right corner of the car spray me in the face”.

“I was sprayed directly in my eyes. This caused me to have severe pain in my eyes and a panic attack,” the statement reads.

Dozens of people were pepper sprayed by police after a crowd including Djokovic fans gathered outside his lawyer’s office after a court ordered that he be released from immigration detention.

Jeremy King from Robinson Gill Lawyers, who specialises in police misconduct matters, is representing both men and said he is still yet to hear back from Professional Standards Command regarding the complaints.

“It’s extremely important that Victoria Police takes both of these complaints very seriously and ensures that there is meaningful accountability in regards to the conduct of the officers,” he said.

“If that doesn’t happen then unfortunately that will set a terrible precedent with how Victoria Police deal with the media going forward.”

Victoria Police were unable to provide an update on the Professional Standards Command investigation before publication.