UPDATE 2-Peru premier to step down over Amazon clashes

* President Garcia has not yet named replacement

* Opposition demanded premier quit over violence

(Adds byline, details on strikes)

By Marco Aquino

LIMA, July 3 (Reuters) - Peru's prime minister said on Friday he planned to step down next week following heavy criticism of the government's handling of violent Amazon protests in which at least 34 people died last month.

It was the first time premier Yehude Simon put a date on his resignation, which was first announced in mid-June after the bloodshed set off the biggest political crisis faced by President Alan Garcia since he took office in 2006.

Indigenous protesters and police died in the clashes, which flared during demonstrations against government plans for large-scale energy projects deep in the rain forest.

Human rights groups say dozens of protesters were killed or are missing and have not been accounted for in the official government death toll.

The conflict has threatened to slow Garcia's push to attract billions of dollars in foreign investment to the resource-rich Andean nation.

Opposition parties blamed Simon for the violence and had called for him to quit, but they failed to muster the necessary support this week in Congress when it voted on the prime minister's ouster.

Simon was appointed in October after a corruption scandal led to a major ministerial reshuffle.

His resignation would force the entire cabinet to offer to step down, but Garcia is not expected to replace heads of key ministries such as the Finance Ministry.

Garcia, whose approval rating is about 30 percent, is under pressure to build support for his investor-friendly policies, which critics say have not done enough to lift incomes in a country where 36 percent of the population lives in poverty.

He has not yet indicated who he will pick to replace Simon, although it is common for presidents to change ministers in late July around Peruvian Independence Day.

Whoever he picks will face ongoing protests affecting different parts of the country and economic sectors.

As Peru's once-booming economy eases along with with the global downturn, workers and indigenous groups are demanding higher wages and more say in policy-making.

Transport workers held a one-day strike this week, snarling traffic in Peru's capital, while the country's largest workers' union has called a nationwide strike for July 8-9. (Writing by Dana Ford; editing by Chris Wilson)