Unfortunately it's a cultural trait in Italy that people prefer to have been right all the time rather than working together for a common goal.
The MOSE project was heavily criticized from the beginning for a variety of reasons, ranging from the basic physics principles on which it works, to the engineering details, to the effects on the lagoon's ecosystem. It is generally claimed that there are cheaper "other methods" to achieve the goal of protecting the city from high tides, but it's not clear which they would be, how effective they would be, and what would be their environmental and visual impact.
In any case, a protest from the group opposing the construction of the MOSE on the day of its general test is absolutely ridiculous. These people cannot possibly be asking for anything concrete, they just hope that something will go wrong so they'll be able to say that they've been right all the time, Venice be screwed.
The MOSE project was heavily criticized from the beginning for a variety of reasons, ranging from the basic physics principles on which it works, to the engineering details, to the effects on the lagoon's ecosystem. It is generally claimed that there are cheaper "other methods" to achieve the goal of protecting the city from high tides, but it's not clear which they would be, how effective they would be, and what would be their environmental and visual impact.
In any case, a protest from the group opposing the construction of the MOSE on the day of its general test is absolutely ridiculous. These people cannot possibly be asking for anything concrete, they just hope that something will go wrong so they'll be able to say that they've been right all the time, Venice be screwed.