Nightly loyalist protests near the Garvaghy Road in Portadown could have implications for next year's Drumcree parade, nationalist residents have said.
The spokesman for the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition, Mr Breandan Mac Cionnaith, said yesterday he believed the protesters were trying to intimidate residents.
"I think it stands to reason that if you're going to have a situation where families are being intimidated night after night after night by loyalists, by people supporting the Orange Order, then you could actually see the mood changing in that area where people are saying `why should the Orange Order get marching past those homes next year?'," Mr Mac Cionnaith said.
Proximity talks between the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition and representatives of Orangemen in Co Armagh were suspended last month without any agreement on next year's Drumcree parade.
A delegation from the residents' coalition met the Parades Commission yesterday to complain about the nightly loyalist parades and protests.
Mr Mac Cionnaith said they had made "forceful representations" to the commission about the protests and, in particular, about a parade which he said was planned for August 15th on part of the Garvaghy Road.
He said it was "disappointing" and "insulting" that the Parades Commission had not responded to a request from nationalist residents to send a commissioner "to visit families subjected to nightly intimidation".
The residents had made clear their objections to the protests and "the implications which the ongoing nightly protests could possibly have in relation to the Drumcree parade next year", Mr Mac Cionnaith said.
Orangemen in Portadown have said the nightly parades are a peaceful protest against the banning of this year's July 5th Orange parade down the Garvaghy Road.
Meanwhile, in the Co Down seaside town of Kilkeel, a unionist residents' group has been formed to object to a parade by the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH) on August 15th.
The Mourne Residents' for Justice committee has said restrictions should be imposed to prevent "hangers-on" from causing trouble. The committee said it accepted the AOH had "an inalienable right as British citizens to march their traditional route" in the town.