Public officials and advocates gathered at City Hall Friday to rally against elder abuse.

Advocates spoke out against $800,000 of proposed budget cuts to the city's Department for the Aging to mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day.

Senior citizen advocates say the public needs to be better educated about abuse, which they say is severely underreported.

"Elder abuse is a really important issue for our times," said Bobbie Sackman of the Council of Senior Centers and Services. "With a growing elder population, this problem can only get worse."

"Seniors are subjected to physical abuse, financial abuse, sexual abuse, verbal abuse, all kinds of abuse," said Pia Scarfo of the Institute for Puerto Rican and Hispanic Elderly.

A 2010 study on elder abuse in New York estimated that there are thousands of unreported cases of elder abuse in the city.