He's wrong. It's not a new form, it's an old form. 20 years old in the 90's anti-WTO form in Seattle, decades old in the European version, centuries old going back to the
Paris Commune of 1871. The structure isn't as flat as they pretend, their communications are centrally controlled and admittance is centralized. Things like lasers are new but that doesn't require a new approach.
What
is new is local politicians who refuse to disperse them. I could understand being unable to do so, but they are
unwilling. Sawant in Seattle unlocked City Hall for Antifa to kick off CHAZ; that is collaboration, she should be gone, and CHAZ should have ended in unfortunate bloodshed after 2 days.
I don't blame a local PD for not being able to dismantle Antifa on their own, outside of a protest. What you
can do is kettle in an entire protest and arrest the whole lot. Antifa hiding in a crowd doesn't help if you arrest the whole crowd. You can make snap judgements, like letting old men or mothers go free, and arrest everyone 30 and under; everyone wearing all black; everyone found carrying anything more than water.
It would be a logistical nightmare for a day or two but it's possible, and doing so at the start would keep the attacks from escalating. And yes, it would be messy, but the protesters already hate you and want your PD demolished.
What I want to hear from Barr is a solution to the catch-and-release problem. They're coming back 3+ times after being arrested for rioting. There needed to be a way to keep them in prison longer. Maybe not for the regular protesters, but Antifa themselves could be crippled if you rooted them out this way.