Following a wave of attacks on businesses and homes owned by people from Sudan, the police chief in neighboring South Sudan announced a night-time curfew to calm tensions.
Three people were killed and seven others were injured in violent clashes with security forces in the capital, Juba, and the northwestern town of Aweil, police said. Their nationalities were not revealed.
Officers said that three houses owned by Sudanese citizens were set on fire in Aweil.
General Abraham Manywat Peter said on Friday that no one would be allowed to take to the streets between 18:00 and 06:00 local time (16:00 and 04:00 GMT) to “prevent any violations of public and private property.” .
A second police source told the BBC that officers rescued 45 Sudanese merchants in Juba and they are now receiving protection at a police station.
South Sudan seceded from Sudan to form an independent state in 2011 after a long-running civil war, but recently, increasing numbers of Sudanese have fled to South Sudan to escape the recent conflict.
Sudan has become the world's worst humanitarian crisis since the country's warring generals first turned on each other in April 2023. The United Nations says half the population – about 25 million people – is in desperate need of food and aid.
Recent footage showing alleged Sudanese soldiers killing South Sudanese civilians appears to show the city of Wad Madani, the capital of Gezira State in central Sudan, over the past few days.
Rights groups confirmed that at least 13 people – including some children – were killed there because of their ethnicity.
Dark-skinned people say racism is endemic in Sudan, and attacks on these communities by light-skinned Arab fighters that occur today in places like Jazira and Darfur have a long precedent.
It is widely reported that slave raids continued until the end of the civil war in 2005, which led to the secession of black-majority African South Sudan from Arabic-speaking Sudan six years later.
The people of South Sudan in the country and abroad in the diaspora have condemned the events shown in the viral videos.
Hundreds of young men, angry at what they saw in the clips and wanting revenge, attacked Sudanese-owned businesses in Juba and other parts of South Sudan on Thursday.
Gunfire was heard throughout the night while security forces were patrolling.
The BBC saw dozens of young men – most of them in their twenties – running while being chased by police along Tambora Road, one of the busiest streets on the outskirts of Atlabara in Juba.
On Friday shops and businesses in Juba including the country's largest market, Kunio Kunio, remains closed. Restaurants and cafeterias were also closed, with their owners taking precautionary measures.
Bread prices rose by up to 17% in Juba on Friday at the few local bakeries that opened.
The police continue to chase young people who move from one neighborhood to another, targeting Sudanese residents. The BBC learned that dozens of policemen were deployed to protect the Sudanese and their companies in the suburbs of Atlabara Sea and elsewhere.
We saw a police car arresting and taking a group of young men away.
Witnesses in Wau, the country's second-largest city, told the BBC by phone on Friday that hundreds of angry youths attacked Jaw Market, a popular market that houses many Sudanese-owned businesses.
They also tried to loot a number of shops, but the police fired live bullets in the air to disperse them.
Elsewhere, spontaneous demonstrations broke out on Friday in the town of Tonj in Warrap State, the hometown of President Salva Kiir.
The BBC was unable to independently verify allegations of attacks and looting that occurred in areas outside Juba.
