Seeing that the region is likely to become a free city, the Lithuanian government and activists began organizing the Klaipėda Revolt to take the region by force and present the League of Nations with a "fait accompli". Lithuanian Prime Minister Ernestas Galvanauskas took great care to represent the revolt as a genuine uprising of the local population against oppression by the German Directorate. Such plan was designed to direct Allied protests away from the Lithuanian government and to exploit the anti-German sentiment in Europe. On January 9, 1923, the Supreme Committee for the Salvation of Lithuania Minor declared that it usurped power in the region, dismissed Steputat's Directorate, and authorized Simonaitis to form a new five-member Directorate within three days. The rebels then petitioned to unite with Lithuania citing the right of self-determination. The League of Nations initially protested the revolt, but quickly accepted the transfer. The Simonaitis' Directorate was disbanded on February 14 to appease the League. The Lithuanians left the region's administration as it was before the revolt until the signing of the Klaipėda Convention, which formalized the transfer of the Klaipėda Region to Lithuania, in May 1924.