Bahraini security forces have arrested some  80 leading pro-democracy activists in an attempt to contain the daily  anti government protests ahead of the Formula One Grand Prix race, a local  rights group said om Wednesday.

"About 80 people from several villages near (the capital) Manama have been  arrested since April 14," the president of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human  Rights, Mohammed Maskati, told AFP, adding that the "mass wave of arrests is a  preventive measure" by the authorities.