Liberia, April 15 -- WHAT UNFOLDED ON the streets of Monrovia Tuesday should trouble every Liberian who still believes in the promise of democracy. Students-unarmed, organized, and exercising their constitutional right to assemble-were met not with engagement, but with teargas, batons, and arrests. It is a response that speaks volumes, not about the protesters, but about the state.

THE STUDENT UNIFICATION Party (SUP) and its allies did not march with weapons. They marched with a petition-one that laid bare the frustrations of a generation grappling with unemployment, economic hardship, and a deepening sense of exclusion. Their message, "Jobs and Justice," was not radical. It was, in fact, foundational to any functioning democracy.

YET, ...