Another 300 people sought refuge at the Alexandra police station on Wednesday night and an additional 400 were staying at Bramley police station, taking the number of refugees to more than 1000 in total, the SA Red Cross said.

Spokesperson Freedom Ngubeni said the Red Cross had registered about 700 people at Alexandra.

At Bramley about 120 people had found shelter on Wednesday, but the number had risen to about 400 by Thursday afternoon.

The people who had found refuge at the stations were mostly Mozambicans, Zimbabweans and Malawians, but among them also were some South Africans who did not speak the local language, she said.

So far there was enough food and blankets for all as different organisations helped out at the stations.

The atmosphere was calm during the day, since most violence happened during the night, she said.

Bianca Tolboom of Docters without Borders who was at the station as well said eight people had come in on Wednesday night with injuries.

"They were beaten with sticks and stones," she said.

Docters without Borders had set up a mobile clinic for primary health care and were on their way to Bramley to assess the situation there.

Ngubeni said she was not aware of any plans on what to do with all the foreigners.

Earlier in the afternoon Home Affairs Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula had said no foreigners taking refuge at the police station would be deported whether they were documented or not.

This was despite wishes to go back home expressed by foreigners at Alexandra.

Mapisa-Nqakula said there was a plan in place to return all displaced people, foreign and South African, to their houses before the end of this week.

Sapa