Officers caught around 900 people throughout the day. Most of those held were foreign nationals without papers or South Africans who stole from shops.

"South Africans exercised their constitutional right and the overwhelming majority did so peacefully, responsibly and within the framework of the prescribed laws," said South African Police Service Acting National Commissioner Tebello Mosikili.

Thousands of people joined the marches on Tuesday. They asked for stronger rules against illegal migration.

The planned events happened after small groups spent weeks telling undocumented migrants to leave by Tuesday, June 30.

Police sent many officers to the streets and moved more teams to several areas overnight. These included Gauteng, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal, Free State, and Western Cape.

Mosikili said Wednesday, July 1, that the extra help went to places where people stole goods or broke laws.

Across the country, people broke into and damaged many shops thought to belong to foreigners.

Some owners told reporters they lost millions of rand. They did not know if they could open their businesses again.

Police also looked into a killing in the Alexandra township of Johannesburg. A man died from a gunshot while people robbed a shop owned by a foreigner, according to Africa News.