Footage has caught the moment a large group of people tussled over toilet roll in a South African supermarket during the Black Friday sales.

Bargain hunters descended on a storage container as an employee handed out the discounted family packs in Checkers store in Roodepoort, Johannesburg.

The worker can be seen shouting "wait, wait" as she is forced backwards into the container.

Shoppers, hands raised, continued to force their way towards the goods, pulling the cage in different directions as they do.

There was more chaos in Durban, where there have been reports of multiple people injured during a stamped at the Pavilion shopping centre.

In the UK, a police officer has been stabbed in a Leeds HMV after he confronted a suspected shoplifter during the Black Friday sales.

He was slashed across the neck, face and hand just after 9am.

The officer's injuries are thought to be non-life threatening and he is being treated at a local hospital.

The attack was an isolated incident it a fairly quiet Black Friday in the UK.

A surge in online sales during the early hours on Friday, left high street stores looking deserted compared to the previous years.

Black Friday is increasingly becoming an internet bonanza, shoppers are predicted to go on a £1.97bn spending spree - setting a new record - with more than half spent on the internet.

John Rogers, the new chief executive officer of Argos,told the BBC that there had been 500,000 visits to the retailer’s website in the first hour of online trading, between midnight and 1am.

Black Friday 2015 shopping madness kicks off early: In pictures Show all 10 1 /10 Black Friday 2015 shopping madness kicks off early: In pictures Black Friday 2015 shopping madness kicks off early: In pictures Black-fri-1.jpg A man pushes two televisions in a shopping cart at a Target store in Colma, California AP Black Friday 2015 shopping madness kicks off early: In pictures Black-fri-2.jpg Cesar and Marie Cruz push their trolley with sons Sevier and Trinni in a shopping cart at a Target store in Colma, California AP Black Friday 2015 shopping madness kicks off early: In pictures Black-fri-3.jpg Instead of waiting for Black Friday, which is typically the year's biggest shopping day, more than a dozen major retailers opened on Thanksgiving day this year AP Black Friday 2015 shopping madness kicks off early: In pictures Black-fri-4.jpg Shoppers fill the aisles at a Macy's department store on Thanksgiving night in New York EPA Black Friday 2015 shopping madness kicks off early: In pictures Black-fri-5.jpg People wait in line to be the first to enter and shop at a Target store in Atlanta, USA. The traditional holiday shopping period began with 'door buster' deals ahead of 'Black Friday' EPA Black Friday 2015 shopping madness kicks off early: In pictures Black-fri-6.jpg A young shopper peers over the railing of an escalator at the Times Square Toys R' Us in New York AP Black Friday 2015 shopping madness kicks off early: In pictures Black-fri-7.jpg A shopper waits with her bags in the Times Square Toys R' Us in New York AP Black Friday 2015 shopping madness kicks off early: In pictures Black-fri-9.jpg People shop at a Gap factory store at the Citadel Outlets in Los Angeles AP Black Friday 2015 shopping madness kicks off early: In pictures Black-fri-10.jpg Best Buy employees hands tickets entitling customers to purchase a sale item to shoppers waiting for the store to open in Overland Park, Kansas AP Black Friday 2015 shopping madness kicks off early: In pictures Black-fri-8.jpg Bargain hunters Baylah Osias, Mackenzie Justice, Michael Tarver and Hayden Keating-Broyles (L to R) wait outside a Best Buy to be among the first to purchase discounted electronics when the brick and mortar store opens its doors at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day in Atlanta AP

Jo Causon, chief executive of the Institute of Customer Service, commented on how Black Friday is changing:

"Black Friday in its original form – the manic one-day, in-store shopping experience – has already changed significantly over the past three years."