ST. PETERSBURG, RUSSIA ? Pensioners and veterans angered over the cutoff of welfare benefits clogged streets and paralyzed traffic in St. Petersburg, hometown to President Vladimir Putin, for a second day Sunday and the street demonstrations spread to other Russian cities.

Top government officials sought to shift the blame by accusing regional leaders of botching the management of new social programs, under which benefits such as free medicine and public transportation were replaced by a monthly government stipend.

Though St. Petersburg authorities promised to restore some benefits after 10,000 people jammed the center of Russia’s second-largest city on Saturday, demonstrators returned Sunday to rally on Nevsky Prospect, again snarling traffic in the center of the city.

“Hitler stole our childhood, and Putin stole our declining years,” declared a banner held aloft by one of the aging protesters.

Others waved red flags, beat spoons against saucepans and chanted slogans calling for Putin to step down. “We are here to demand the right to life,” said Zhanna Filonova, 61. A large contingent of police stood by but did not intervene.

Since the new social benefits program went into effect Jan. 1, the protests have spread to several cities cities across Russia’s 11 time zones. Retirees were in the streets of Volga River-city of Samara for a fifth day Sunday, and a rally in the southern city of Stavropol drew up to 5,000 people.

Many of the elderly, already complaining they are treated like second-class citizens, consider the changes a final insult as they struggle to survive on meager pensions in inflationary and capitalist Russia. Those affected by the new program lived most of their lives under a cradle-to-grave welfare system until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

An elderly woman shouts in St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, to protest against a recently passed law that strips senior citizens of Soviet-era benefits. Behind her is a flag of of the ultra-nationalist National Bolshevik party. The protests, which also spread to other cities across Russia's 11 time zones, were triggered by the Jan. 1 law that gives retirees, the disabled and war veterans cash stipends instead of benefits such as free public medicine and transportation.

“Prices keep rising, and now they have canceled our benefits,” said Yevgeniya Sidorova, 70. “Putin and his government want us to lie down and wait for death to come.”

Alexander Zukov, the first deputy prime minister, and Boris Gryzlov, the parliament speaker, appeared on state-controlled Rossiya television late Sunday to defend the social reform bill and blamed provincial authorities. “It’s quite natural that people are angry,” Zhukov said.

But protesters say new monthly payments of about $10 are worth far less than the lost benefits, leaving the elderly to choose between food, transport and medicine.

“It’s an outrage,” said Nina Kuzmina, 65. “The government must step down and face justice.”

Many pledged to keep protesting until benefits were restored and pensions were increased. An average monthly pension is now worth about $80.