Art lovers in Brussels divided over plans for museum about Le Chat

Thousands sign petition calling for rethink as work on 9.38m museum about comic strip is given go-ahead

A spat over the wisdom of spending millions of Euros of public money on a museum about a popular newspaper comic strip featuring an obese anthropomorphic cat is dividing opinion within Belgium's artistic community.

The decision by the Brussels-Capital Region to give building approval for the Musee du Chat on Rue Royale, the location of some of the country's most respected cultural institutions, has prompted what artists Denis De Rudder and Sandrine Morgante have described as feelings of incomprehension and concern, even consternation and revolt" in a letter and petition addressed to Rudi Vervoort, minister-president of the Brussels-Capital Region.