Hundreds of people turned out on Saturday to take part in a mock referendum on whether Poland should annex the Russian embassy in Warsaw, part of a protest organized by several campaign groups.

“Annexations are this season,” organizers said in a statement, referring to Moscow’s recent claim of annexing four Ukrainian regions after referendums were dismissed as “sham” by the West.

“We have decided to take this path and organize a referendum on the annexation of the Russian embassy … in Warsaw.”

The NGOS also referenced a viral social media joke that suggested the Czechs were seizing the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

Around 3,000 people, waving the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag and placards reading “Terrorussia” and “Hands off Ukraine,” attended the mock referendum in Warsaw, according to organizers.

The voting line stretched down the street from the palatial Russian embassy, ??where the ballot box was placed.

The ballot asked whether Poland should annex the Russian embassy and offered three voting options – all “yes”.

“It’s a much more democratic idea than the referendums on Ukrainian territory, held under guns and rockets,” Mariia Volkolup, a 33-year-old Ukrainian lawyer in Warsaw, told AFP.

The organizers of the rally proposed alternative uses for the embassy building, including refugee housing, a cultural center, a zoo and even public toilets.

Grigory, 46, a Russian who left Moscow in August, said he attended the rally to show his support for Ukraine.

“I condemn this war waged by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and I want to say that not all Russians support it,” he told AFP. He said he moved to Warsaw because staying in Russia made him feel complicit in the war.

The organizers of the event announced that they would send an open letter to the Polish leadership asking them to expel the Russian ambassador.

The event was organized by a loose coalition of groups supporting women, Ukraine, democracy and human rights.