A day after the East Village headquarters of the Hell’s Angels was raided by the police, members of the motorcycle club spoke out against what they called “an ongoing campaign of illegal harassment” by the NYPD.

“The Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang is tired of being the NYPD’s piñata,” a lawyer for the group, Ronald Kuby, said at a press conference held outside the East 3rd Street clubhouse.

The raid was part of an investigation of the case of a woman found beaten unconscious in front of the building on Sunday night, allegedly assaulted by a member of the group. The victim, Roberta Shalaby, 52, was in serious but stable condition at Bellevue Hospital yesterday.

A member of the Hell’s Angels, Richard West, was taken into police custody on Monday afternoon but was released several hours later when police decided they didn’t have enough evidence to charge him. Mr. Kuby said he may file a federal civil rights action for wrongful imprisonment against the NYPD. He also labeled as excessive the police response, which included an armored personnel vehicle, helicopters, the emergency services unit, and snipers on roofs across the street.

It wasn’t the first time the department has come to blows with the Hell’s Angels. In separate cases in 1998 and 2000, judges ruled that police raids of the clubhouse were unconstitutional. Mr. Kuby said the group was awarded a combined $1 million in the cases.

A police spokesman, Assistant Chief Michael Collins, defended the Police Department’s approach.

“Considering their violence and unlawful history, it was a prudent response to ensure a safe conclusion,” he said.

Police confiscated illegal slot machines, quantities of propane and nitrous oxide that the members didn’t have permits for, and the clubhouse’s front door for forensic evidence, Chief Collins said.

A member of the Hell’s Angels, Bart Dowre, said the claims that the club is violent are unfounded.

“We’re men of respect,” Mr. Dowre said. ” We’re bad boys, there’s no doubt about that. We hold a lot of respect for our fellow men. You treat us with respect, you get respect back. That is the bottom line. We don’t bully people, and we don’t beat up freakin’ women.”

The manager of the Edge Bar, located on the same block as the clubhouse, Michael Rich, said Ms. Shalaby came in just before she was found beaten on the street. Mr. Rich said she came in and identified herself as “Barbarella,” and then proceeded to “spout off poetry” over a jazz band playing in the bar. He served her one beer before she started crying and complaining about how the East Village had changed for the worse.

When she left, she said, “I’ll see you all in hell,” and stomped off, he said. Not long after, Mr. Rich said he heard sirens and saw her lying on the sidewalk, bleeding from the head.