More than 700 residents marched through the town in a torchlight protest to put a stop to the recent violent attacks that have seen the murder of two young women.

“It was fantastic. I am mighty impressed over the show of support. Bystanders just stood in wonder at how many people had come,” said local town councillor Tommy Nyström.

The murder of 29-year-old Carolin Stenvall, who went missing on September 14th and whose body was found on October 22nd, has darkened the mood of residents of the northerly municipality.

The dark mood was compounded by news last weekend that a young woman had been found beaten to death in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Tommy Nyström decided last week that it was time to act to act and raised the prospect of a public march at a meeting of the local council.

The response was resounding support from across the political spectrum.

The march also gave indications that the violent trend could be about to be broken.

An organisation called The Angels (Änglarna) has previously patrolled the streets and has now announced that it is prepared to resume its operations. A further organisation, Föräldrar på stan (Parents on the town), a group that has not been active for several years, has also given indications that it may re-form.

Furthermore two local companies also took the chance to announce that they had each donated 10,000 kronor ($1,266) to the Gällivare women’s refuge.

“That was also very pleasing. When I asked if we should tolerate this type of violence in Gällivare the answer was a resounding no!,” Nyström said.