A 19-year-old student was shot dead and a 23-year-old woman was critically injured when a gang attacked students celebrating the end of the academic year in the central city of Lodz, police said on Sunday.

Up to 100 hooligans attacked the students on the campus of Lodz University late on Saturday night, and then turned on police with bricks, stones, bottles, and metal rods, provincial police spokesman Tomasz Klimczak said.

Three policemen were injured in the clashes, up to 70 people were treated for injuries, and some 19 rioters were detained.

An earlier report stated that two people had died of gunshot wounds in the clashes with hooligans.

"The misinformation apparently came from emergency-room employees," police spokesman Witold Kozikci told Reuters by telephone.

Police brought the melee under control later on Saturday after firing at the rioters with rubber bullets, police said, noting that the use of firearms in public disturbances was rare in Poland.

National police headquarters has set up a special team to investigate the incident, PAP news agency reported.