On 12 February, Rajab was briefly detained after he tried to march along with his family to the location of the symbolic Pearl Roundabout in Manama. Rajab explained that he took this move to be a model to encourage people from different ages to take part in protests. Following the media attention on protests during the Formula 1 race in April 2012, the government launched a "legal crackdown" in which Rajab was arrested and released several times.