WATCH | #BlackFriday crowd chaos outside Nike Factory Store

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Black Friday was nothing short of crazy at the Nike Factory Store at Woodmead Value Mart in Johannesburg.

Some bargain-hunters said they had been up since 2am and travelled long distances to get there as early as possible.

What began as an orderly queue turned into a rowdy crowd, with people jumping security fences to get close to the entrance. This caused some commotion among the Black Friday hopefuls. 

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The Nike Factory Store in Woodmead, Johannesburg, had to ask the police for help as they could not control the thousands of customers that had arrived for Black Friday on November 29 2019.Thapelo Morebudi/The Sunday Times
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The Nike Factory Store in Woodmead, Johannesburg, had to ask the police for help as they could not control the thousands of customers that had arrived for Black Friday on November 29 2019.Thapelo Morebudi/The Sunday Times

Soon the area in front of the store was so full that the crowd could not step back to allow security guards to open the door. Some simply did not want to move out of fear that they would lose their place. 

Sarah Ndimande was there with her family. She says she was hoping to get some Christmas clothes for her children, but had accepted that her chances of getting into the shop were slim. 

Eventually the store's door was damaged, resulting in security guards allegedly pepper-spraying people in the crowd. Several hours into the wait, the pressured security workers threatened to not open the store at all.

The situation remained volatile, with police and guards trying different methods to maintain order.